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Hungarian GP 2016, Practice 3: Red Bull wipe out Mercedes advantage

Rosberg sets the pace again, but Verstappen right behind for Red Bull; Hamilton only fourth on return to track after Friday crash

Mercedes and Red Bull could be poised for a close battle at the front of the Hungarian GP after all, after the two teams set all-but identical lap times in Practice Three.

F1 world champions Mercedes confounded pre-weekend expectations by totally dominating Friday's practice running, but on Saturday morning, Red Bull suddenly unlocked some more competitive pace.

And, via an impressive late flying lap, Max Verstappen finished just 0.002 seconds adrift of pacesetter Nico Rosberg to whet the appetite ahead of qualifying, which begins at 1pm live on Sky Sports F1.

But Lewis Hamilton was only fourth in the second Mercedes on his return to the track after his P2 crash and unusually finished half a second back on team-mate Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo was third in the other Red Bull.

Hamilton made several mistakes when out on track and Mercedes' mechanics replaced his seat after the world champion reported discomfort. The original one was damaged in his accident.

"How genuine was that lap from Red Bull?" pondered Sky F1's David Croft. "We will only find out in qualifying."

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While they did not find as much time as Red Bull, Ferrari also closed on Mercedes in final practice - although Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel remained more than half a second off the pace in fifth and sixth places respectively.

Fernando Alonso continued McLaren's encouraging practice form to take seventh, while Jolyon Palmer rebounded from a forgettable Friday to secure a rare top-10 finish for Renault.

Williams showed the first signs of top-10 form as Valtteri Bottas took eighth, with Sergio Perez sneaking into the top 10 late on in the lead Force India.

Nico Rosberg è stato il più veloce nella seconda sessione di libere all'Hungaroring (Getty)

As on Friday, drivers were again regularly running with all four wheels off the track at Turn Four - and the FIA has confirmed they will adopt a "zero tolerance" policy to such viloations of track limits in qualifying.

A driver's lap time will be deleted if he strays 20cm or more beyond the white line at turns four and 11.

Practice Three timesheet

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:20.261

2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:20.263

3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:20.726

4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:20.769

5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:20.859

6. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:21.185

7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:21.584

8. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:21.649

9. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:21.672

10. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:21.935

11. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:21.975

12. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:21.989

13. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:22.009

14. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:22.142

15. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:22.284

16. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:22.402

17. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:22.427

18. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:22.541

19. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:22.816

20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:23.219

21. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:23.311

22. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:23.513

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