French Grand Prix FP3: Bottas fastest in rain-hit session
Mercedes Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas set the pace in final practice for the French Grand Prix, which was mostly devoid of action after unexpected rain


Bottas set a 1m33.666s in the first round of flying laps in the opening five minutes, more than a second slower than team-mate Lewis Hamilton's Friday benchmark.
A wet FP3 was not predicted after Friday practice took place in hot, sunny conditions, however rain started to fall at parts of the circuit shortly after Bottas set his time and Sergio Perez skated off the road at Turn 4 as the track got more and more slippery.
By 10 minutes-in rain was falling across the entire circuit, and the teams ordered their drivers back to the garage - with no action for another 40 minutes.
Renault's Carlos Sainz Jr and Sauber driver Charles Leclerc managed to get a representative lap in during the initial three-lap runs, improving on their FP2 times, to go second and third behind Bottas.
Drivers from Fernando Alonso in fourth down to Kimi Raikkonen in 13th all set times, but at nothing like the sort of pace shown on Friday.
The track remained silent until the very end of the session, despite F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn telling Sky Sports F1 that qualifying is expected to feature a "heavy thunderstorm" and the race will also be wet.
This lack of running is probably explained by teams not wanting to waste the limited number of tyres they have for qualifying and the race.

The FIA did not make an additional set of intermediate tyres available to each driver for FP3 because it did not expect it to be a wet session.
Alonso was the first driver to head out onto the track on full wet tyres with just over 10 minutes to go.
He returned to the pits immediately before Williams drivers Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll managed to complete one flying lap each on the extremely wet circuit.
Stroll went wide at Turn 7 while Sirotkin went straight on at the Turn 8 chicane but they at least set a time, albeit 28 and 30 seconds off the pace respectively.
The Haas drivers, Brendon Hartley, Nico Hulkenberg and Max Verstappen ended the session without a time to their names.
Hartley completed just an outlap and an inlap as he shook down the new Honda engine he has had to use after a Friday failure, which has also condemned him to a back-of-the-grid start.
Hartley and his Toro Rosso team-mate Pierre Gasly joined Leclerc and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne in heading out in the final couple of minutes to explore the track and scrub in a set of wets.
Marcus Ericsson did not join Sauber team-mate Leclerc on-track late on and managed just three laps in his new chassis, required after a fiery FP1 crash, at the start of this session.
FP3 times
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m33.666s | - | 3 |
2 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Renault | 1m34.953s | 1.287s | 3 |
3 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m35.012s | 1.346s | 5 |
4 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Renault | 1m36.365s | 2.699s | 4 |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m36.756s | 3.090s | 5 |
6 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Renault | 1m37.547s | 3.881s | 4 |
7 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Honda | 1m38.317s | 4.651s | 5 |
8 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m38.450s | 4.784s | 3 |
9 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m39.641s | 5.975s | 4 |
10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m39.738s | 6.072s | 3 |
11 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m40.087s | 6.421s | 4 |
12 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m40.743s | 7.077s | 3 |
13 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m49.711s | 16.045s | 3 |
14 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 2m02.399s | 28.733s | 4 |
15 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams/Mercedes | 2m04.093s | 30.427s | 5 |
16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | - | - | 1 |
17 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Honda | - | - | 3 |
18 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | - | - | 1 |
19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | - | - | 2 |
20 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | - | - | 3 |

Red Bull's Adrian Newey racing on F1's French GP support bill
Force India F1 team fined for Perez's wheel falling off in practice

Latest news
How Ferrari’s Monaco headache became its Silverstone migraine
OPINION: Ferrari won the British Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz, but it ultimately cost Charles Leclerc a chance to make a bigger dent in Max Verstappen's title lead by leaving the Monegasque out on old tyres towards the end. Like Monaco, indecision over strategy proved to be the Scuderia's biggest issue - and if the team doesn't reflect, the headache can only intensify
The five factors behind Sainz winning a British GP he’d twice lost
Formula 1 has a newest race winner, in a grand prix the victor appeared to have lost twice, only to charge back to headline a sensational and dramatic British Grand Prix. From a massive start crash to a late sprint finish, here’s how five factors saw Carlos Sainz take his maiden grand prix win
Why there was no case to answer in Aston’s latest F1 copycat saga
The appearance of a revised Aston Martin in Spain caused controversy but PAT SYMONDS explains why the FIA investigation found the Silverstone team had no case to answer
Why it's Red Bull that really leads a three-way fight so far at Silverstone
After a slow start to Friday at Silverstone, all the Formula 1 teams had to effectively cram in a day’s worth of practice into one hour. But there was still plenty to learn and while Ferrari topped the times, a three-way battle is brewing ahead of the British Grand Prix
Why the future is bright for the British GP
It wasn’t so long ago the situation looked bleak at Silverstone with the future of the British Grand Prix under threat. But a transformation has seen it restored to one of the most important races on the Formula 1 calendar, with bigger and better to come
Could mixed fortunes for F1's leading Brits turn around at Silverstone?
For the first time in many years, none of the local racers starts among the favourites for the British Grand Prix. But George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris could have reasons for optimism
Verstappen exclusive: Why F1’s champion isn’t fazed by Silverstone return
Max Verstappen is the world’s number one racing driver… and he’s determined to keep it that way. Speaking exclusively to GP Racing's OLEG KARPOV, the Red Bull driver explains why he’s relishing the 2022 championship battle with Charles Leclerc – and why he’s not worried about returning to Silverstone, the scene of the biggest accident of his career last year
Why Red Bull’s RB17 hypercar can help its F1 team
On Tuesday, Red Bull laid out its plans to develop and build a new hypercar - the RB17 - penned by Adrian Newey. As the project itself sates Newey as a creative outlet, it also offers Red Bull's Formula 1 team a number of new and exciting avenues to pursue