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<strong>FP3</strong>: Hamilton heads field after final practice

FP3: Hamilton heads field after final practice

Published on 16 Mar 2019 05:01
0
By: Fergal Walsh

Lewis Hamilton continued where he left off on Friday, topping the final practice session from Melbourne.

The Briton's fastest lap, set on the soft tyre, read 1:22.292 which was three-tenths of a second quicker than his fastest time yesterday.

The Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc were second and third respectively, with Vettel two and a half tenths behind rival Hamilton.

After Friday running, Vettel claimed that Mercedes was in a league of its own after blitzing the field, but it now appears the Scuderia outfit has closed the gap overnight.

Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes made a mistake on his qualifying simulation and ended the session in seventh place, 1.1 seconds down on his pace-setting teammate.

Haas set some promising lap times ahead of the opening qualifying session of the year, with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen slotting into fourth and fifth place respectively.

Pierre Gasly was sixth, but Red Bull didn't conduct a proper low fuel run throughout the day. His teammate Max Verstappen was ninth, behind Daniil Kvyat but ahead of former partner Daniel Ricciardo, who rounded out the top ten.

There were no major dramas during the session other than Robert Kubica touching the wall on the pit lane entry, losing a small part of his Williams that once again brought up the rear of the field.

George Russell, who was once again the faster of the two Williams, was 1.4 seconds behind Lando Norris, his nearest competitor on the track.

Both Alfa Romeo's ended up outside the top ten, as did the Racing Point pair and the McLaren duo.

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F1Grand Prix Australia - Free practice 3

Albert Park - 16 March 2019

Driver

Team

Time

Difference

#
1

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:22.292

12
2

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1:22.556

+0.264

12
3

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:22.749

+0.457

12
4

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1

1:23.112

+0.820

17
5

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1

1:23.334

+1.042

15
6

Pierre Gasly

Red Bull Racing

1:23.367

+1.075

17
7

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

1:23.422

+1.130

17
8

Daniil Kvyat

Toro Rosso

1:23.442

+1.150

16
9

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:23.481

+1.189

19
10

Daniel Ricciardo

Renault

1:23.695

+1.403

14
11

Nico Hülkenberg

Renault

1:23.737

+1.445

15
12

Antonio Giovinazzi

Alfa Romeo Racing

1:23.831

+1.539

16
13

Carlos Sainz jr

McLaren

1:24.049

+1.757

21
14

Sergio Perez

Racing Point

1:24.082

+1.790

18
15

Alexander Albon

Toro Rosso

1:24.328

+2.036

15
16

Lance Stroll

Racing Point

1:24.345

+2.053

16
17

Kimi Räikkönen

Alfa Romeo Racing

1:24.402

+2.110

18
18

Lando Norris

McLaren

1:24.568

+2.276

16
19

George Russell

Williams

1:25.944

+3.652

14
20

Robert Kubica

Williams

1:26.589

+4.297

16

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Grand Prix of Austria

Local time

Friday

Saturday

Sunday
Free practice 1

11:00 - 12:30

Free practice 3

12:00 - 13:00

Race

15:10 - 17:10
Free practice 2

15:00 - 16:30

Qualifying

15:00 - 16:00

Fastest lap