Charles Leclerc pipped Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen to top spot in an ultra-tight final practice session at the British Grand Prix that was red-flagged twice late on.
Just 0.087s covered the top three in FP3, setting the scene for a three-team fight for pole between Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull at Silverstone.
Leclerc's 1m25.498s was the fastest time of the weekend so far and put him 0.068s ahead of previous pacesetter Piastri, the championship leader having earlier beaten his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris's benchmark.
Norris was barely a tenth off top spot and just two hundredths off Verstappen, though the Red Bull driver had been up on Piastri's then benchmark through the first two sectors of his lap before ceding time through the final sector.
Verstappen had one lap spoiled earlier in the session when he came across an Alpine through the fast Maggotts/Becketts complex, which also cost him time onto the Hangar Straight, and before that he'd complained that the brake bias on his Red Bull was "like a handbrake".
But his RB21 appeared in a much better window in the final third of the session - a sentiment that also applied for team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who was half a second further back but ended up fifth.
A late red flag - the second of the session - for Gabriel Bortoleto's beached Sauber ultimately brought FP3 to an early end and denied some of the other big hitters a chance to improve.
Bortoleto had a snap through Maggotts that pitched his Sauber off to the right and into a spin, with a subsequent bounce over the grass on the inside of Becketts breaking his car's front-left suspension.
Bortoleto had his moment going through Maggotts 😮#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/IPsEZRQZTp
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 5, 2025
That meant Ollie Bearman ended up sixth fastest, though he had an eventful session.
The Haas driver set an impressive early lap on mediums that put him sixth in the order, and returned to that position during the final set of qualifying simulation runs late on.
And to round off a hectic end to the session, Ollie Bearman hits the barriers entering the pits 😵#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/mncqKOmIiR
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 5, 2025
But he inadvertently caused the first red flag of the session when a piece of bodywork fell off his Haas and onto the racing line at Stowe, and he then had a clumsy moment in the pit entry under the red flag as he lost his car at racing speed and spun into the barrier, ripping the majority of his nose cone off.
Bearman lamented that he was a "f***ing idiot, my brakes are cold", and apologised to Haas, but he is now under investigation for a red flag infringement.
Alex Albon ended up seventh for Williams ahead of the lead Mercedes of George Russell, who locked up on his final attempt after the red flag when he caught a Red Bull and a Ferrari through the fast sweeps at Abbey at the start of the lap, with Racing Bulls duo Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson completing the top 10.
Lewis Hamilton was 11th but that was an representative end result; the second Ferrari had been fastest of all through the first sector and then set a personal best in sector two before abandoning his lap when the first red flag was shown.
Pierre Gasly was slowest of all for Alpine, lapping slower than he managed in FP2 at Silverstone last year. Team-mate Franco Colapinto was three tenths faster but only 18th.
FP3 times
1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m25.498s
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.068s
3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.087s
4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.108s
5 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.606s
6 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +0.614s
7 Alex Albon (Williams) +0.621s
8 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.627s
9 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.631s
10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.758s
11 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.834s
12 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.834s
13 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +0.879s
14 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.924s
15 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +1.001s
16 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +1.003s
17 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.396s
18 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.099s
19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +2.102s
20 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +2.380s
