European GP: Hamilton completes practice clean sweep

The Briton, quickest in both practice sessions on Friday, led the pre-qualifying running with a 1:44.352, which was still slower than his best time set in second practice yesterday.

Hamilton outpaced teammate Nico Rosberg with a last-minute effort, the German finishing 0.258s behind the world champion.

Force India looked strong once more, Nico Hulkenberg winding up third ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel in the quickest Ferrari.

Although Ferrari picked up the pace today, Vettel was still 1.2 seconds off the pace. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished down in 10th position.

Less than five minutes into the session, there were further problems with the track, as a drain cover came loose and Valtteri Bottas ran over it as he returned to the pits.

As a result, his Williams was damaged and a cone had to be installed in the pitlane in front of the hole.

Bottas could not return to the track and finished without a time.

The initial pacesetters were the Force Indias, before Ricciardo moved to the top after 15 minutes, the Red Bull driver using the supersoft tyres to set a 1m46s.

Rosberg went quickest at the 20-minute mark with a 1:45.558, still far from yesterday's best, as Hamilton moved up to second, just 0.117s behind his teammate.

The championship leader improved during his run, lowering the benchmark to a 1:45.435. Hamilton also went quicker, but still fell a tenth short.

Meanwhile, Ferrari's difficult weekend continued as Raikkonen reported he had no power on corner exit, the Finn having to crawl back to the pits.

His mechanics started working on the car right away, and Raikkonen returned to action later.

In better news for the Italian squad, however, Vettel showed improved pace with less than 20 minutes remaining, the German going third quickest, 0.259s off Rosberg's best.

Vettel was relegated to fourth by Ricciardo, who got within less than two tenths of the Mercedes with 15 minutes to go.

With 12 minutes left on the clock, however, Rosberg moved a second clear of his rivals with a 1:44.610, still four tenths slower than the best time from FP2.

The other Nico, Hulkenberg, then jumped to second place in the Force India, outpacing Hamilton by 0.003 seconds.

Hamilton went off at Turn 1 on his penultimate lap, but then took P1 with 40 seconds left on the clock with a 1:44.352, still not as quick as yesterday.

The session came to an end under red flags after Sergio Perez crashed against the wall at Turn 15 in a replay of the accident Ricciardo suffered in FP2.

Perez's car appeared to suffer as much damage as the Red Bull had.

Free practice 3 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	17	1'44.352
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	22	1'44.610	0.258	0.258
3	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	18	1'45.540	1.188	0.930
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	13	1'45.620	1.268	0.080
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	20	1'45.630	1.278	0.010
6	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	17	1'45.735	1.383	0.105
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	14	1'45.901	1.549	0.166
8	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	17	1'45.954	1.602	0.053
9	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	19	1'45.981	1.629	0.027
10	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	16	1'46.024	1.672	0.043
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	16	1'46.131	1.779	0.107
12	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	17	1'46.190	1.838	0.059
13	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	21	1'46.361	2.009	0.171
14	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	20	1'46.510	2.158	0.149
15	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	21	1'46.670	2.318	0.160
16	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	16	1'47.024	2.672	0.354
17	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	Mercedes	19	1'47.100	2.748	0.076
18	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	18	1'47.158	2.806	0.058
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	14	1'47.328	2.976	0.170
20	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	18	1'47.379	3.027	0.051
21	Rio Haryanto	Manor	Mercedes	18	1'47.556	3.204	0.177
22	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	1