Chinese GP: Clean practice sweep as Hamilton is fastest in FP3

Chinese GP: Clean practice sweep as Hamilton is fastest in FP3

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the third and final practice for the Chinese GP with a 1:37.615s, 0.226 clear of his team-mate Nico Rosberg and ahead of both Ferraris.

FP3 was just two minutes in when disaster arrived for McLaren and Fernando Alonso, as the Spaniard stopped on track following an engine related issue. Team-mate Jenson Button meanwhile was advised the issues were not fixed and told to be careful. He finished P15.

Red Bull again showed a good improvement in terms of pace on both compounds, and finished P5 and P6 with Ricciardo ahead of Kvyat, however the Russian radioed in to report a loss of power - reliability is the issue for them.

For Williams, it was again Felipe Massa with some practice troubles, as weirdly he had some smoke popping up on his cockpit - problems that were solved during the course of FP3 though, and Felipe finished P11, with Bottas P8.

Ferrari completed another session closer to Mercedes than the rest, however the Mercs have now a clean sweep of the practice sessions - can they be challenged for pole?

The top ten:
1. Hamilton — 1:37.615
2. Rosberg — +0.226
3. Vettel — +0.698
4. Raikkonen — +0.897
5. Ricciardo — +1.405
6. Kvyat — +1.491
7. Sainz — +1.498
8. Bottas — +1.628
9. Verstappen — +1.659
10. Grosjean — +1.790