» Hamilton quickest again in Canada

Lewis Hamilton has firmed as a favourite to claim pole position for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix after going fastest of all in Saturday’s final practice session at the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve.

The Englishman – a four-time winner here – finished over half a second faster than Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, while the impressive performer of the session was Felipe Massa, who managed to split the duo and finish the session second-quickest in his Williams.

That being said, both Hamilton and Rosberg posted their quickest lap times on the slower Soft compound Pirelli tyres, opting not to attempt serious times as they saved compounds for qualifying and the race. Massa’s fastest time, by contrast, came on the Super Soft ‘option’ compound.

Fernando Alonso took his Ferrari fourth-quickest, with he and teammate Kimi Räikkönen sandwiching fifth-placed Daniel Ricciardo on the timesheets.

Valtteri Bottas showcased Williams’ potentially podium-threatening pace with the seventh-fastest time, ahead of the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Éric Vergne. Sebastian Vettel was tenth-quickest in the second Red Bull, ensuring five teams occupied the fastest ten places on the timing screens.

The much-improved weather conditions made the track surface warmer than some had expected, and perhaps this accounted for the poor showing from both McLarens – who’d run in the top half of the field on Friday – with Kevin Magnussen finishing twelfth-fastest and teammate Jenson Button complaining of poor handling en route to a lowly sixteenth. Magnussen also suffered a wild spin after missing Turn 1.

The Dane wasn’t the only one to find himself facing the wrong way during the one-hour session. The Turns 8/9 chicane was the site of spins for three drivers – Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Pérez – while Sauber’s Esteban Gutiérrez will miss qualifying entirely after crashing heavily just fifteen minutes into the session.

The Mexican lost control of his ill-handling C33 through the Turns 3/4 chicane complex, slamming into the fence at the exit of Turn 4. The team confirmed that his Ferrari-powered car had suffered irreparable damage, necessitating an overnight build of a spare chassis ahead of Sunday’s race.

2014 Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Results:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:15.610		18
2.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:16.086	+ 0.476	16
3.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:16.120	+ 0.510	20
4.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:16.488	+ 0.878	15
5.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:16.504	+ 0.894	15
6.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:16.528	+ 0.918	22
7.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:16.684	+ 1.074	20
8.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:16.820	+ 1.210	21
9.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:16.824	+ 1.214	19
10.	Sebastian Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:16.884	+ 1.274	15
11.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:16.944	+ 1.334	17
12.	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:16.993	+ 1.383	19
13.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:17.121	+ 1.511	21
14.	Sergio Pérez	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:17.188	+ 1.578	19
15.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:17.224	+ 1.614	21
16.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:17.360	+ 1.750	23
17.	Adrian Sutil	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:17.900	+ 2.290	23
18.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:18.518	+ 2.908	25
19.	Max Chilton	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:18.525	+ 2.915	19
20.	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:19.865	+ 4.255	23
21.	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:20.227	+ 4.617	14
22.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:22.388	+ 6.778	6