Belgian GP: Raikkonen quickest in FP3, problems for Verstappen

Raikkonen used new supersoft tyres to finish quickest with a 1:47.974, the best time of the weekend, outpacing Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo by over two tenths of a second.

Sebastian Vettel wound up third in the second Ferrari, ahead of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton in the quickest Mercedes.

The world champion sat at the bottom of the times for most of the session until he jumped up to fifth in the dying seconds of the running, setting the quickest Sector 1 time in the process.

Teammate Nico Rosberg finished seventh behind the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.

Felipe Massa (Williams), Sergio Perez in the Force India, and Haas's Romain Grosjean completed the top 10.

Max Verstappen, quickest on Friday, was unable to complete a timed lap after his Red Bull hit trouble early on, the Dutchman staying the majority of the 60 minutes in the garage.

Haas' Esteban Gutierrez was the first driver to complete a timed lap, the Mexican using the supersofts for his first run.

But the Mexican was quickly on the receiving end of more criticism for not using his rear view mirrors, as Pascal Wehrlein nearly crashed when avoiding the slow Haas at Raidillon.

Wehrlein was coming at full speed and Gutierrez was driving slowly on the racing line, the Manor driver having to take to the grass to avoid hitting him.

The German was unimpressed and called his rival a "f****** idiot" on the radio before the stewards announced the incident would be investigated.

After that, Rosberg moved to the top of the times with a 1:48.880 on soft tyres.

Bottas moved up to second, just 0.235s behind Rosberg, as yesterday's pace-setter Verstappen hit trouble, his mechanics having to start working quickly on his car, which suffered a gearbox problem after just two installation laps.

Raikkonen went quickest before the halfway point of the session, using a set of supersofts to post a 1:48.406.

Vettel made it a Ferrari 1-2 at the head of the times before an incident with Kevin Magnussen at Blanchimont, the Dane squeezing the German as he tried to pass him.

"What an idiot, honestly," complained Vettel on the radio. "What an idiot. It's free practice. Who gives a s**t?"

Ferrari's dominance did not last long, however, as Ricciardo put Red Bull on top, outpacing Rosberg by 0.217s with supersofts.

With six minutes to go, Raikkonen regained the top spot with the quickest time of the weekend so far, the Finn using new supersofts to post a 1:47.974 as Vettel failed to improve despite also running fresh rubber.

Free practice 3 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	11	1'47.974
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	18	1'48.189	0.215	0.215
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	12	1'48.297	0.323	0.108
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	17	1'48.504	0.530	0.207
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	20	1'48.635	0.661	0.131
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	12	1'48.739	0.765	0.104
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	19	1'48.742	0.768	0.003
8	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	21	1'48.783	0.809	0.041
9	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	12	1'48.915	0.941	0.132
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	16	1'49.272	1.298	0.357
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	9	1'49.453	1.479	0.181
12	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	16	1'49.631	1.657	0.178
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	10	1'49.665	1.691	0.034
14	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	11	1'49.716	1.742	0.051
15	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	Mercedes	15	1'49.761	1.787	0.045
16	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	9	1'50.023	2.049	0.262
17	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	9	1'50.078	2.104	0.055
18	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	11	1'50.241	2.267	0.163
19	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	13	1'50.420	2.446	0.179
20	Esteban Ocon	Manor	Mercedes	18	1'50.693	2.719	0.273
21	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	5	1'51.319	3.345	0.626
22	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	2