Lewis Hamilton fastest in dry third F1 practice for Australian GP
Lewis Hamilton edged out Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in final practice for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel only two tenths off the pace
Mercedes used the super-soft tyres for the first time this year, with Hamilton clocking a 1m25.624s, 0.176s ahead of Rosberg at Melbourne's Albert Park.
Vettel's time was set before the Mercedes duo with the track rapidly improving, suggesting there could be a close battle at the sharp end in qualifying later on Saturday.
Rain throughout Friday severely limited any meaningful running but despite an overcast start to Saturday, conditions improved and the entire 60-minute session remained dry.
Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr, running a 2015-spec Ferrari engine, split the Ferraris on the super-softs to go fourth quickest, 0.633s adrift of Hamilton and two tenths clear of Kimi Raikkonen.
The other Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen was sixth, ahead of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
Bottas and Williams team-mate Felipe Massa struggled to get the tyres working early in FP3, but they made progress as the session went on, with Massa ninth and Force India's Sergio Perez completing the top 10.
Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button showed encouraging performance to set the 11th and 12th quickest times respectively for McLaren.
Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat was 13th, ahead of the leading Sauber of Marcus Ericsson and Renault's Kevin Magnussen.
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was seven tenths adrift of team-mate Perez in 16th, with Renault's Jolyon Palmer 17th.
F1 rookie Rio Haryanto and Romain Grosjean collided in the pitlane early in the session when they were both released at the same time.
Haryanto was able to get out shortly after with a new front wing bolted to his car, but Haas chose to change the floor as well as the front wing on Grosjean's car before getting him back out.
Haryanto ended up 22nd and last, but just two tenths adrift of highly-rated team-mate Pascal Wehrlein.
Grosjean completed the fewest laps of anybody with 11 and ended the session 19th, 0.008s adrift of team-mate Esteban Gutierrez.
FP3 TIMES
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m25.624s | - | 24 |
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m25.800s | 0.176s | 25 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m25.852s | 0.228s | 25 |
4 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m26.257s | 0.633s | 28 |
5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m26.435s | 0.811s | 23 |
6 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m26.701s | 1.077s | 26 |
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m26.730s | 1.106s | 28 |
8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m26.768s | 1.144s | 22 |
9 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m27.151s | 1.527s | 28 |
10 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m27.242s | 1.618s | 22 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m27.263s | 1.639s | 20 |
12 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m27.341s | 1.717s | 20 |
13 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1m27.430s | 1.806s | 22 |
14 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m27.659s | 2.035s | 26 |
15 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1m27.871s | 2.247s | 24 |
16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m27.988s | 2.364s | 22 |
17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m28.117s | 2.493s | 24 |
18 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1m28.284s | 2.660s | 21 |
19 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m28.292s | 2.668s | 11 |
20 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m28.293s | 2.669s | 26 |
21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m29.046s | 3.422s | 18 |
22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1m29.272s | 3.648s | 23 |
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