Barcelona-EL3: Räikkönen and Ferrari take the advantage

Before qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, ​​Catalonia, Kimi Räikkönen and Ferrari achieved the best time in the final free practice session this Saturday morning.

The Finnish driver waited to pass the soft tires to complete a lap of the Montmelo track in 1'20″214, 242 thousandths ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel.

The four-time world champion, however, was forced to stop his SF70H in the pit lane less than 10′ from the checkered flag, bringing his session to a premature end. Italian mechanics have started checking work on the German's SF70H as qualifying looms.

Behind the two Ferraris, Lewis Hamilton place first Mercedes W08 at 0″381 from Räikkönen. The morning was not the easiest in the clan of the star brand since a water leak was discovered on the Power Unit of the car de Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes having already broken the curfew yesterday evening following an electrical problem on No. 77.

The replacement of the power unit was carried out, re-installing the previous Power Unit used during the first four races. Bottas was able to return to the track in the last quarter of an hour, setting a personal best lap directly on soft tires, 0 seconds behind the leading Ferrari.

Both Red Bull RB13 Max Verstappen, last driver in the same second as Räikkönen, and Daniel Ricciardo remain behind the Ferrari – Mercedes tandem and are ahead of the Renault RS17 Nico Hulkenberg.

Felipe Massa (Williams), Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren) complete the top 10 of the session. THE Haas de Romain Grosjean et Kevin Magnussen finished 11th and 12th ahead of the Force India of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon, separated by 60 thousandths. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) signs the 19th and penultimate time ahead of the Sauber of Pascal Wehrlein.

Qualifying will begin at 14 p.m. French time and will be followed live with commentary on our website.

EL3 classification