Verstappen edges Hamilton in 3rd practice at Spanish GP

<p>MONTMELÓ, Spain &mdash; Max Verstappen edged Lewis Hamilton for the fastest time in the third and final practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Saturday’s qualifying.</p>
<p>Verstappen pushed his Red Bull to a session-best lap of 1 minute, 17.83 seconds.</p>
<p>Hamilton, who leads Verstappen by eight points in the Formula One standings, was just 0.23 slower in his Mercedes.</p>
<p>Verstappen had finished the first two practice sessions on Friday with the second- and ninth-fastest times.</p>
<p>Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had the third- and fourth-fastest times, respectively, just ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas on Saturday.</p>
<p>The final practice session under sunny skies near Barcelona was incident-free except for a tire puncture that sent Lando Norris’ McLaren into the gravel momentarily. Norris, who is a distant third in the points standings, finished with the sixth-best time.</p>
<p>Later, Hamilton will aim for his 100th career pole position.</p>
<p>Hamilton won the season opener in Bahrain and last week’s race in Portugal. Verstappen won the season’s second race in Italy.</p>
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