Bottas tops final practice from Hamilton at the Eifel GP

Sam Hall
Saturday 10 October 2020 12:09 - Updated: 12:12

Valtteri Bottas topped final practice for the Eifel Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton as Lance Stroll's participation of the weekend was cast into doubt.

Bottas set a one minute 26.225 to take the top spot in the only practice session of the weekend with Hamilton 0.136secs back.

As the session ticked to a close, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel showed the team also had pace with times good enough for third and fifth.

Sandwiched between the two was Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, the Dutchman 0.671secs off the benchmark time of Bottas.

For Racing Point, the weekend continued to be a difficult one as Lance Stroll sat out the session through illness. Midway through the session, Nico Hulkenberg arrived on site but the team has yet to confirm who will contest the remainder of the weekend.

For the Silverstone based team, Sergio Perez set the seventh fastest time, narrowly pipped by sixth place McLaren driver Lando Norris.

The loss of both Friday sessions cost teams a total of three hours of running and left only one hour in which to perfect set ups for qualifying and the race.

When the lights went green, the majority of the field took to the track immediately with a large spread of tyre selections indicating the level of work required across the session.

Red Bull were the initial pace setters in the session, running on medium tyres and focussing on one-lap pace. Completing their qualifying simulations earlier than most, Verstappen remained at the top until Mercedes, who had focussed on long run pace for the opening 40 minutes, bolted on the soft compound tyres.

On a green track, errors were commonplace throughout, with Vettel, Hamilton, George Russell and Lando Norris among those to fall foul of the circuit.

In the closing stages, Hamilton was prevented from troubling the top order by double-waved yellows for the Williams of Nicholas Latifi at the final corner, the Canadian having spun at the final corner.

The championship leader, completing a second lap on the softs, was able to leapfrog Verstappen into second, a feat matched moments later by Leclerc.

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