China – Free Practice 3: Vettel and Räikkönen Shine, Ricciardo Burns
Sebastian Vettel leads a Ferrari one-two at the top of the timesheet in the final practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton struggled on track... and Daniel Ricciardo broke his engine!
This time, the gap is there. After the tightening of forces in FP2, Scuderia Ferrari took the lead during the final hour of running before qualifying. On a still “cold” track (16 degrees on the track, 12 in the air) Sebastian Vettel set the benchmark time on ultra-softs, with a 1:33.018, four-tenths ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, his teammate, and especially seven-tenths ahead of Valtteri Bottas, third in his Mercedes.
Leading during the two sessions on Friday, Lewis Hamilton experienced a difficult session this time, struggling to improve the balance of his car. His difficulties were highlighted by a spin coming out of the tenth turn and a few trajectory errors during his flying lap. The reigning world champion even finished the session in fifth place, behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. He was temporarily pushed back to more than a second behind Sebastian Vettel.
However, at Red Bull, the mood was more one of disillusionment after these FP3 sessions. After experiencing an initial issue early in the session with his gearbox, Daniel Ricciardo was forced to pull his RB14 over to the side of the track 25 minutes before the end, engine on fire! Following the session, a turbo problem was diagnosed by Christian Horner, team principal of the Austrian team. The qualifying session for #3 was then called into question.
For his part, Kevin Magnussen confirmed the good potential of the Haas team with the sixth fastest time (a lap set at the start of the session), ahead of the two Force India cars, Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon in that order.
Behind Carlos Sainz, Sergey Sirotkin gave reasons for hope for the Williams team, with a place in the top 10. The two McLarens finished in 12th (Alonso) and 13th place (Vandoorne) while Pierre Gasly was only sixteenth. Finally, Romain Grosjean couldn’t even complete a timed lap due to a brake problem diagnosed at the rear of his car.
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP3)
The Prancing Horses lead the way in final practice#F1 #ChineseGP 🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/2cIiSqTApb
— Formula 1 (@F1) 14 avril
