The third practice session for the British Grand Prix allowed drivers and teams to quickly test the dry track, only to see the beginning of rain that will likely characterize the entire Saturday, leading to fully wet qualifying.
In the first 20 minutes, due to the absence, so to speak, of Red Bull focusing on race pace when the track was dry, an excellent Ferrari was seen again, this time with Charles Leclerc even better than Carlos Sainz. In addition, Mercedes seems to have made significant changes to their car compared to the first two practice sessions, with the W14 appearing much more loaded on the aerodynamic front in an attempt to improve grip and drivability, but clearly sacrificing straight-line speed. Let’s compare Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton from the final free practice session on dry track to realize this.
We can see that Charles Leclerc is significantly faster in all the sections involving acceleration, even though there are still some issues at Turn 4, which is currently one of the weak points for both Ferrari drivers. In the middle sector, the difference becomes quite pronounced in favor of the red car, with the entire Copse section and the entry into the Maggots and Becketts sequence favoring the Monegasque, who is up to 10 km/h faster than the seven-time champion.
Lewis Hamilton recovers well at Chapel but still struggles on the following Hangar Straight and is more conservative at Stowe, where Leclerc enters with much higher speed. Overall, Mercedes seems to be searching for better tire management and drivability, believing that the increased downforce will still be beneficial in the race. It’s also possible that rain during qualifying was taken into account at Brackley. Increased downforce is indeed a significant advantage even on a dry lap in wet conditions, where Ferrari seemed to struggle more due to a setup with less vertical load. If we look at the comparison between Charles Leclerc’s and Lewis Hamilton’s two best laps on intermediate tires, we can see the difference.
We can observe that already in the first sector, throughout the slow section, Lewis Hamilton is significantly faster than Charles Leclerc, gaining as much as 4 tenths of a second. Even in the subsequent slow section, which includes Turns 6, 7, and 8 (the wettest parts of the track), Mercedes reaches a speed difference of almost 10 km/h, equalizing the comparison in the straights thanks to the rear end being more loaded during traction. Even at Maggots-Becketts-Chapel, Lewis Hamilton is much faster than Charles Leclerc, but the Ferrari driver recovers well once again at Stowe, to the point of having an advantage in the entire third sector with just the best passage through the iconic corner, a gauge of balance and load.
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Ahead, without even mentioning it, Max Verstappen was circulating 1.5 seconds faster than everyone else on the wet track, a remarkable difference that completely nullifies any aspirations for pole position on a wet track by the competitors. Overall, the battle behind Max seems to be all between Mercedes and Ferrari, with the Brackley team having an advantage on a wet track, which will need to be confirmed on a dry track in the race. Wet qualifying, however, is always conducive to unexpected situations, with Alpine performing well in these conditions, and McLaren and Aston Martin (currently disappointing but certainly ready for the official sessions) that could “join the party”. It will be exciting to follow, knowing that the huge variable of closed park setups means that the setups brought to the track today, with wet qualifying, will be the same ones we will see tomorrow on a dry track. Qualifying will be a huge driving challenge, a spectacle not to be missed.
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