Hamilton pips Bottas to top Spanish GP third practice

Barcelona [Spain], May 12 : Four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton fended off his team-mate Valtteri Bottas to emerge as the quickest driver as Mercedes made one-two finish in the third practice session of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix at The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday.
The British driver, who clocked the fastest lap of one hour and 17.281 seconds, was was just 0.013 seconds ahead of Bottas, the Formula1.com reported.

Ferrari was Mercedes closest rivals as four-time champion Sebastian Vettel and his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished at the third and fourth spot respectively.

While Vettel was a quarter of a second behind Hamilton, Raikkonen was a further three-tenths back of the pacesetter.

Red Bull opted to run on the slower medium tyres as Daniel Ricciardo clocked fifth fastest, followed by the improving Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean.

Earlier, Hamilton also made a top-place finish in the second practice, while he finished at the second place behind Bottas in the opening session.

Hamilton is currently standing at the top spot in the drivers' championship, maintaining a lead of just four points over Vettel.