F1 Chinese GP: Hamilton makes it three from three in final practice

Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of Chinese Grand Prix Formula 1 practice sessions by beating Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg on Saturday morning at Shanghai

Hamilton was quickest in both segments of the session - leading his team-mate by three tenths on medium tyres and then by 0.226 seconds after the qualifying simulations on softs.

Practice analysis: Is Ferrari still in the game?

The reigning F1 world champion could have been faster still, outpacing Rosberg by four tenths at sector two on his best lap before losing some of his cushion on the run to the line.

Ferrari was again Mercedes' closest rival. Sebastian Vettel got within a tenth of Rosberg on mediums but on softs the gap to Hamilton's pacesetting time grew to 0.7s.

Kimi Raikkonen slotted the second Ferrari into fourth, behind Vettel.

Fernando Alonso was only able to do half a lap in the session as his McLaren-Honda stopped with an apparent engine problem within moments of taking to the track.

Despite McLaren's best efforts, he was unable to get out again. Jenson Button represented the team alone in 15th, but had looked stronger on medium tyres.

There were headaches for Red Bull and Williams too. Red Bull had to warn Daniil Kvyat to take care of his brakes again, while smoke in the Williams cockpit caused concern for Felipe Massa.

Red Bull ended up better off on pace - Daniel Ricciardo and Kvyat taking fifth and sixth, half a second off the Ferraris and just ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr's Toro Rosso.

Valtteri Bottas and Massa were only eighth and 11th in the Williams, sandwiching Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso and Romain Grosjean's Lotus.

PRACTICE THREE RESULTS:

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m37.615s - 14
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m37.841s 0.226s 16
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m38.313s 0.698s 17
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m38.512s 0.897s 16
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m39.020s 1.405s 8
6 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1m39.106s 1.491s 14
7 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso/Renault 1m39.113s 1.498s 17
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m39.243s 1.628s 15
9 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m39.274s 1.659s 19
10 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1m39.405s 1.790s 14
11 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m39.410s 1.795s 17
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m39.513s 1.898s 14
13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m39.559s 1.944s 18
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m39.591s 1.976s 19
15 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m39.694s 2.079s 16
16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1m39.766s 2.151s 16
17 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m39.781s 2.166s 17
18 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 1m42.928s 5.313s 15
19 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 1m44.956s 7.341s 9
- Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda - - 1


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