Hamilton on top with vintage lap in final practice

Montreal: Lewis Hamilton rolled back the years with a vintage lap to top the times for Mercedes ahead of Red Bull s revived Max Verstappen in Saturday...

Montreal: Lewis Hamilton rolled back the years with a vintage lap to top the times for Mercedes ahead of Red Bull's revived Max Verstappen in Saturday's third and final free practice for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion, relishing the handling of his updated car, clocked a best lap of one minute and 12.549 seconds to outpace the series leader and three-time champion by nearly four-tenths in an intriguing session punctuated by one brief red-flag stoppage.

Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate George Russell was third ahead of local hope Lance Stroll of Aston Martin, McLaren's Oscar Piastri and RB's Daniel Ricciardo.

Lando Norris was seventh in the second McLaren ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso in the second Aston Martin, Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull and Charles Leclerc, fresh from winning his home Monaco Grand Prix for Ferrari.

On a cloudy and breezy afternoon on the man-made Ile Notre-Dame, built in 1965 from rock excavated in the construction of the city's metro system, the two Red Bulls led out from the pitlane, both keen to improve on a grim Friday for the team.