By Andrew Benson.
George Russell, winner in Austria last weekend, led a Mercedes one-two with Lewis Hamilton in a wet final practice for the British Grand Prix on Saturday with a trio of home drivers on top of the timesheet.
In cold conditions of just 11C, Russell led Hamilton by 0.015 seconds with Lando Norris’ McLaren third quickest and 0.185secs off the pace.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth fastest, split from team-mate Charles Leclerc by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was seventh, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg.
The session was wet throughout, although there track dried progressively until about 15 minutes to go when more rain started to fall.
Hamilton, who took pole in the wet for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race back in April at a time when Mercedes were less competitive than now, looked comfortable and for a time in the session was going fastest every time he completed a lap.
But Russell pipped him a few minutes after Hamilton had stopped running.
Rain is expected to continue in the gap before qualifying at 15:00 UK time, by which time the wet weather is expected to have abated. More rain is expected on Sunday morning.