Nico Rosberg went quickest in final practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix but the Mercedes driver was pushed hard by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen with the Dutch driver finishing just 0.002s behind the championship leader. Third place in the session went to Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull.

Rosberg began with a lap of 1:20.811 to take top spot from Daniel Ricciardo who set about his qualifying preparations early in the session. Rosberg then lowered the bar to 1:20.547 and that lap remained the benchmark until 10 minutes before the end of the session when the German clawed almost three tenths of a second out of his own best time with a lap of 1:20.261.

In the meantime Ricciardo had worked through his qualifying sim to record a best time of 1:20.726 that kept him in P2 until late in the hour.

As the Australian busied himself with a long run on supersoft tyres in the closing stages, it was left to Verstappen to take the fight to Rosberg and the Dutchman obliged, posting a lap of 1:120.263 to demonstrate that as forecast before this race weekend Mercedes are likely to have a tight battle for pole position on their hands in Hungary.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth quickest for Mercedes. The champion spent most of the session on race pace work as he attempted to make up for the time lost yesterday when he crashed out early in FP2, but he still found time to post a lap of 1:20.769, four tenths of a second behind Ricciardo.

Kimi Raikkonen took fifth place for Ferrari, who also closed in on Mercedes. The Finn was 0.6s slower than Rosberg but team-mate Sebastian Vettel was 0.9s adrift of his compatriot as he finished sixth.

After finishing seventh in both sessions yesterday, Fernando Alonso confirmed McLaren’s competitiveness at this tight and twisting circuit by claiming the same sport again this morning. He was four tenths of a second behind Vettel and just six hundredths of a second clear of eighth-placed Valtteri Bottas, who was testing a new floor for Williams. Sergio Perez finished ninth for Force India while Jolyon Palmer was a surprise tenth for Renault.

Elsewhere, FIA race officials warned that they will take a “zero tolerance” approach to track limits at Turns Four and 11 during qualifying and the race. The timing loops on the kerbs at those locations have been set up to register a crossing when a car is approximately 20cm beyond the white line. Every lap beyond that will be deleted.

Then, during the race, "any driver judged to have left the track three times at these corners (when counted cumulatively) will be shown a black and white flag. One further crossing will result in a report being made to the stewards. This is likely to result in a drive-through penalty for any driver concerned.”

2016 Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:20.261 25
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:20.263 10
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:20.726 22
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.769 23
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.859 18
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:21.185 22
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:21.584 11
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:21.649 21
9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:21.672 22
10 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:21.935 19
11 Felipe Massa Williams 1:21.975 28
12 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:21.989 13
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:22.009 11
14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:22.142 15
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:22.284 13
16 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:22.402 21
17 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:22.427 22
18 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:22.541 18
19 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:22.816 23
20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:23.219 23
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:23.311 24
22 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:23.513 23