Silverstone FP3: Hamilton tops but it's close as Hartley crashes

But on a weekend of plenty bent metal, FP3 was marred when the front suspension on the Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley broke at high speed, spearing the hapless New Zealander into the wall. It was a big impact, thankfully he emerged apparently unscathed and compos mentis.

At the sharp end, Hamilton's best time of 1:26.722 was faster than the best set yesterday and less than a tenth up on second-placed Raikkonen.

Six tenths down on his Mercedes teammate's best time was Valtteri Bottas who in turn was a half second up on Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari. The German stopping early with apparent neck problems.

Next up in fifth and sixth were the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, nothing to separate the teammates but alarmingly 1.3 seconds down on the top time. The power deficit between Renault and Mercedes is being laid bare at this high-speed venue.

Rookie Charles Leclerc was heroic again as he powered to seventh on the timing screens, seven tenths up on his more experienced teammate Marcus Ericsson in the sister Sauber in tenth.

Kevin Magnussen in eighth was the faster of the Haas duo by a tenth or so, with teammate Romain Grosjean ninth after missing out in FP2 after yet another costly mistake, this time in FP1 on Friday.