World champions Mercedes meant business in third and final practice for the British Formula One Grand Prix, with Valtteri Bottas leading the way from six-time race winner Lewis Hamilton.

Bottas clocked 1 minute 25.873 seconds on the 5.891km Silverstone course, with Hamilton .138 of a second back some two hours before the start of qualifying for Sunday’s race.

Hamilton tops the championship into his home race five points ahead of Bottas after three races of which Bottas won the first and Hamilton the next two.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull trailed by three-tenths in third and Lanca Stroll of Racing point fourth.

Verstappen had dominated the first session and Stroll the second on Friday in much hotter weather conditions.

Alex Albon had to settle for 13th in the second Red Bull, after missing 45 of the 60 minutes because his team had to repair a problem, after crashing the car the previous day.