Charles Leclerc bounced back from his second practice woes to set the pace during Saturday’s third session at the Silverstone Circuit, leading the way from the ever-impressive Williams of Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin before a mid-session shower.

Following a warm and dry opening day at the historic venue, wet conditions greeted the drivers as they returned to the track ahead of the FP3 hour, with temperatures dropping overnight and dark clouds hovering above.

While the preceding F3 race took place in the wet, a break in the weather saw the track dry up sufficiently for slick tyres when F1 cars headed out – albeit with a 90% risk of further showers throughout the session.

It meant reigning double world champion Max Verstappen – who topped FP1 and FP2 – finished back in eighth position, with team mate Sergio Perez down in 14th, though they still gathered valuable data in the slippery, intermediate conditions that followed.

In the Red Bull drivers’ absence from the sharp end, it was Leclerc who posted the session’s benchmark with a 1m 27.419s on the red-marked rubber, making up for some of the mileage he lost after being sidelined by an electrical problem during second practice – adding the flourish of a spin after the chequered flag at Club corner for good measure.

Albon and Williams continued to impress with a run to P2, brushing off an electrical glitch to finish just 0.173s down on Leclerc, with Alonso another to get a soft-shod lap in just before the rain hit as he pipped Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, which began to show some more pace.

Carlos Sainz had led the early stages of the session but fell down to sixth amid a flurry of improvements, with Logan Sargeant an encouraging seventh in the other Williams, despite “crazy hot air” in the cockpit after “something blew off” his car, followed by the aforementioned Verstappen.