China, FP3: Hamilton’s Shanghai dominance continues

Lewis Hamilton made it three from three as he repeated his Friday practice session dominance by recording the fastest time of final practice ahead of qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The world champion set a best lap on 1:37.615 on Pirelli’s soft compound tyre in the closing stage of the hour, beating out Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by just over two tenths of a second.

The Mercedes pair were the only drivers to crack the 1m 38s barrier during the session. Third-placed Sebastian Vettel getting closest, with the Ferrari driver setting a best time of 1:38.313 to end the session almost seventh tenths off the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes. Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, two tenths further back.

Behind the Ferraris, Red Bull Racing confirmed an improved level of competitiveness with Daniel Ricciardo finishing fifth and team-mate Daniil Kvyat fifth, just under a tenth adrift of the Australian.

Ricciardo was still half a second down on Raikkonen, however, and the Milton Keynes were again plagued by technical gremlins, with both complaining about braking issues during the session. Kvyat also reported a worrying loss of power at the end of the session.

Carlos Sainz once again impressed for Toro Rosso, with the 20-year-old claiming seventh place in the session with a time of 1:39.113, just under a tenth behind Ricciardo.

Valtteri Bottas was eighth for Williams, with the Finn preventing a two-by-two look to the top eight by finishing three hundredths of a second ahead of Max Verstappen in the second Toro Rosso.

With the Dutch teenager in ninth place, the top ten was completed by Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, who set a best time of 1:39.405.

Further back, Jenson Button finished 15th for McLaren, the Briton once again showing that the McLaren-Honda is making strides forward. It was, however, a case of one step forward and one back in the session as team-mate Fernando Alonso was forced to pull over during his first out lap with a suspected power unit issue. He failed to set a time.