China – FP3: Hamilton ahead of Rosberg again before qualifying

The third and final free practice session of the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix begins under bright sunshine, with 17°C in the air and 42°C on the track.

From the very first moments, Fernando Alonso’s McLaren experiences an engine problem, and the Spaniard has to stop on the track with a small amount of smoke coming from the rear. An hour lost for the double-world champion, whose car is parked behind the safety rails. Meanwhile, his teammate Jenson Button is informed that an issue remains unresolved with his car, and he needs to be careful.

After fifteen minutes, the big teams enter the track and the timing hierarchy is established as both Mercedes cars—Hamilton ahead of Rosberg—take the lead over the two Ferraris—Vettel ahead of Räikkönen. On the Williams side, Felipe Massa complains of smoke in the cockpit and passes through the pit lane, not without having set the fifth provisional time.

At mid-session, Grosjean and Ricciardo finally head out. Only Bottas, among the drivers able to run, has not set a time. He does so a few moments later with the 5th provisional time, between Räikkönen and Massa. Hamilton complains about an overheating problem with the seat and returns to the pits to change it. Verstappen, at the end of a long tire stint, spins out.

With less than 20 minutes to go, the drivers begin fitting the soft tires on their cars, like Daniil Kvyat who immediately sets the fastest time with a 1:39.1, but Rosberg, with yellow-sidewall tires, clocks a 1:37.8, calmly taking the top spot before his rivals’ attempts. The first of these is his teammate Hamilton, who improves by two-tenths with the fastest overall time in the first two sectors. The two Red Bulls are pushed back by 1.4s, but Massa fails to get ahead of them. It’s the Ferrari’s turn to join the battle: Vettel is seven-tenths slower than Hamilton, and Räikkönen eight-tenths.

Less than two minutes before the end of FP3, Kvyat experiences a loss of power and is crawling on the track. The session ends once again with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest time ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.

2015 Chinese Grand Prix – Free Practice 3