Kimi Antonelli set the pace in Free Practice 3 for the Belgian Grand Prix, clocking a best lap of 1m 45.990s and ending the session less than two tenths clear of Lando Norris. Max Verstappen moved up to P2 and stayed within two tenths of Antonelli, while Lewis Hamilton finished P5 before his day turned sharply at the end of the session.
Hamilton lost the rear through Turn 13, brushed the barrier and brought his Ferrari to a stop down the track, leaving the team with work to do before qualifying later on Saturday. He had already shown enough speed to post a 1m 46.789s lap, but that mattered less than the damage done on his final run, with Ferrari suddenly facing a race against time on a session that had been building toward qualifying pace.
That mattered because Free Practice 3 was the last chance to sort the car before the grid fight begins later on Saturday, and Antonelli’s benchmark only sharpened the pressure on the teams chasing him. George Russell ended P4 and complained about a lack of straight-line speed, which underlined how fine the margins were at the front and how quickly small weaknesses were being exposed.
The late crash also gave Ferrari an unwanted interruption in the middle of its qualifying preparation. Hamilton had briefly been pushed down the order before reasserting himself, but the final lap left him with damaged bodywork and a repair job that could not wait. The question now is not whether Ferrari had speed in the car; it is whether the repairs were completed in time to let Hamilton compete on equal terms when Qualifying began.
For a session that ended with Antonelli on top, Hamilton’s crash became the part that mattered most. The fastest lap set the reference, but the final image from FP3 was a Ferrari crew forced to turn a messy ending into a clean start for the next session.
