Shanghai, FP3: Vettel tops rain-hit final practice in China

Sebastian Vettel set the pace in rain-hit final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver set a time of 1:57.351 to take top spot ahead of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas.

Heavy rain at the start of the session meant there was no track action for the first quarter of the hour-long session, but after 16 minutes and with the rainfall abating, Valtteri Bottas bolted on a set of blue-banded wet tyres and headed out for an exploratory lap. He was soon followed by team-mate Felipe Massa and that signaled the start of the session proper.

Kimi Raikkonen set the first timed lap of the session, with a time of 2:00.812, but

with the rain staying away and the conditions quickly improving, it wasn’t long before the bulk of those running switched to intermediate tyres.

And it was Vettel who made the most of the green-banded tyres. The German was one of the last drivers to take to the track and despite appearing to struggle on his outlap as he complained of his car sticking in first gear on a couple of occasions, he settled down for his hot lap and set his best time, which eventually saw him head the field by 0.7s.

P2 man Bottas was 0.6s clear of Force India’s Sergio Perez while Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz took P4, though the Spaniard only used full wet tyres during the session.

After a troubled Friday in which he was hit by gearbox and brake problems, Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez had a much more enjoyable start to Saturday, posting the session’s fifth-fastest time.

Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen were sixth and seventh respectively. Palmer’s outing wasn’t without issue as he suffered a right rear puncture. Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein took eight place ahead of Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India.

Eight drivers opted not to set lap times, with the drivers from McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes and Haas’ Romain Grosjean choosing to either abandon hot laps or forego them altogether. The Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvat in particular looked comfortable on the intermediate tyre midway through the session, but despite the pair trading session-best times in the first two sectors both aborted the lap and headed for the pit lane.