The last practice session before the qualifying of the 2020 Russian GP has ended with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest lap, with the time of 1.33.279. Closely behind him on second was Valtteri Bottas with 1.34.055 and Carlos Sainz on 3rd with 1.34.096. The rest who completed the top 10 of the FP3 session were: Ocon, Perez, Verstappen, Vettel, Stroll, Kvyat and Ricciardo. 

Just before the FP3 began, the F2 feature race took place at the Sochi track, a race that on usual weekends takes place after the Saturday’s F1 qualifying session. It was won by Mick Schumacher, who won with a big gap over Yuki Tsunoda and Callum Illot on P3. With that win, the young Schumacher extends his championship lead in F2. 

The first two cars on the track were the papaya orange McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. The first one to set a lap time was Norris, with a 1.36.423. Sainz went back to the garage after the initial out lap, so for some time Lando was the only driver with a time on the leaderboard. 

Soon after, more drivers went out to the track. Valtteri Bottas struggled with lock up on one of his first laps, an issue that many drivers suffered with during the FP1 and FP2.

The next two drivers to set a lap time were Grosjean and Magnussen, and fast enough Daniel Ricciardo topped the leaderboard with 1.35.672, snatching the top spot from Norris. 

After the first 15 minutes of the FP3, the only drivers with the times on the board were: Ricciardo, Norris, Grosjean, Magnussen and Bottas. 

Soon enough the Mercedes’ began their stint, and in the initial part Bottas went P1 with 1.35.183, beating Lewis Hamilton by +0.745. 20 minutes down almost every driver on the grid went on track, with the exception of the Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon. 

The Alpha Tauri presented themselves in a good light as for some time Gasly and Kvyat were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Both of the cars received new Honda power units in Sochi, as well as Max Verstappen. Gasly took a small spun in turn 15, but quickly recovered from it and went back into the garage. 

Half an hour before the end of FP3 every driver on the grid has set a lap time.

Max Verstappen was the last driver to set a lap time, and he did so with 1.34.306, which gave him P2 30 minutes before the end of FP3. 

Although the McLaren’s had a strong start to the FP3, and they eventually ended up P3 and P20. As explained by Andreas Siedl, the team principal of McLaren, the car of Lando Norris is having a different nose this weekend as opposed to Carlos Sainz’s car, as they’re trying to test and gather data for a new

15 minutes before the end of FP3 Hamilton set the fastest time with 1.33.279. A small surprise was pulled by the Ferrari’s, with Vettel on 4th and Leclerc on 5th, with the 1.34.594 and 1.32.806 respectively. Soon they got pushed a little lower, when Sainz went 3rd fastest. 2 minutes before the end of the session the time of Alex Albon was deleted, because of exceeding the track limits. 

The classification after the full hour of FP3: 

CLASSIFICATION: END OF FP3 ⏱️

Hamilton on top in final practice session

P3 for Sainz and P4 for Ocon as McLaren and Renault impress again #RussianGP 🇷🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/vH0zZgERyk

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 26, 2020