Practice 3 Report - Antonelli leads final practice as Hamilton crashes

Kimi Antonelli completed a clean sweep of practice at the Belgian Grand Prix by setting the fastest time in final practice at Spa-Francorchamps, while Lewis Hamilton's session ended with a crash that left Ferrari facing a race against time before qualifying.

The Mercedes driver posted a best lap of 1m45.990s on soft tyres, edging McLaren's Lando Norris by 0.139s and Max Verstappen by 0.148s in an interrupted final hour before qualifying. But the biggest talking point came in the closing moments when Hamilton crashed exiting Les Fagnes, damaging the rear of his Ferrari after sliding through the gravel.

Hamilton's accident closely resembled Pierre Gasly's FP2 crash on Friday. Carrying too much speed through the second part of the fast left-right sequence, the Ferrari driver ran wide into the gravel before the rear-right corner struck the barrier, ripping the suspension out of alignment and causing significant damage. Ferrari mechanics now face an extensive rebuild ahead of qualifying, with the extent of any gearbox damage still to be assessed.

Running was initially subdued during the opening 10 minutes as teams managed their remaining tyre allocation following Friday's two practice sessions. Once the qualifying simulations began, Hamilton became the first driver to dip below the 1m47s barrier, producing a 1m46.789s lap on his second flying lap using the same set of soft tyres.

Neither Verstappen nor George Russell could better that benchmark on their first soft-tyre runs, but Antonelli immediately demonstrated Mercedes' pace. The Formula 1 championship leader produced a superb 1m45.990s lap to move eight tenths clear of Hamilton, while Verstappen improved on his second attempt to finish just 0.051s shy of the Ferrari driver's earlier effort.

The battle at the front tightened on the second set of soft tyres. Verstappen found considerable time and even benefited from a slipstream behind Valtteri Bottas' Cadillac through the final sector, but still finished 0.148s short of Antonelli's benchmark. Norris then squeezed ahead of the Red Bull by just 0.009s after spending much of the session completing a lengthy race simulation on medium tyres before switching to softs late in the hour.

Antonelli was unable to improve on his own benchmark during his final qualifying simulation. His first attempt ended after running wide at La Source, where he reported difficulty engaging the final gear early enough to maximise engine braking. His follow-up lap was over a quarter of a second slower before being deleted for exceeding track limits.

Russell secured fourth for Mercedes with a 1m46.357s, although his final effort was compromised after encountering Sergio Perez through Raidillon. Hamilton's earlier lap remained good enough for fifth despite his late accident.

Charles Leclerc endured similar traffic issues, catching Pierre Gasly through Turn 9 on his first flying lap on fresh soft tyres before recovering to sixth on his next attempt. Oscar Piastri finished seventh, almost eight tenths slower than Antonelli and more than half a second behind McLaren team-mate Norris.

Audi enjoyed another encouraging session with Nico Hulkenberg eighth and Gabriel Bortoleto ninth, while Isack Hadjar rounded out the top 10 despite an eventful morning. The Red Bull driver stalled in the pit lane early in the session but was quickly restarted by his mechanics before later reporting persistent front tyre warm-up problems.

Arvid Lindblad was 11th for Racing Bulls ahead of team-mate Liam Lawson, while Franco Colapinto, Oliver Bearman, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon completed the midfield order.

Valtteri Bottas led Cadillac's challenge in 17th ahead of Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez. Aston Martin again struggled for outright pace, with Fernando Alonso 21st and Lance Stroll last after both finished more than four seconds adrift of Antonelli's benchmark.

Mercedes heads into qualifying as the team to beat after Antonelli topped all three practice sessions at Spa, but Norris and Verstappen finished within 0.15s of the Italian, suggesting the fight for pole position remains finely balanced. The biggest uncertainty now surrounds Ferrari, with Hamilton's mechanics working against the clock to repair his damaged SF-26 before qualifying begins.