Chinese GP: Bottas over Vettel in shortened Practice 3

Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas

In final practice before qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas topped the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel – but the session was cut short by a huge crash for Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon, who put his STR14 heavily into the wall on the pit straight.

Bottas was four tenths of a second over the two Ferraris of Vettel and Charles Leclerc with five minutes of Free Practice 3 remaining when Albon ran wide on the final corner. The Thai driver’s Toro Rosso wobbled on the astro turf before he was sent hurtling at worrying speed into the nearside track barrier.

Albon was soon out of the car and walking around, but the STR14 looked a long shot to be rebuilt in time for qualifying. That’s a shame, as both he and team mate Daniil Kvyat had shown strong pace, finishing the session in ninth and 10th respectively.

Behind Bottas and the two Ferraris, Lewis Hamilton failed to put one good lap together to end up fourth, while Nico Hulkenberg was once again impressive for Renault to go P5 – as he was in FP2 – ahead of the similarly impressive Kimi Raikkonen, sixth for Alfa Romeo.

Max Verstappen will be hoping for a better performance in qualifying than we saw in FP3, ending up P7 and 1.6s off the pace – although he was comfortably clear of Pierre Gasly, who wound up 15th, although the Frenchman didn’t deign to use the soft tires – while Verstappen’s former Toro Rosso team mate Carlos Sainz was eighth for McLaren.

Practice 3 Results

POS DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m32.830s 0.000s 11
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m33.222s 0.392s 12
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m33.248s 0.418s 10
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m33.689s 0.859s 10
5 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m33.974s 1.144s 11
6 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1m34.246s 1.416s 14
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1m34.447s 1.617s 5
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 1m34.510s 1.680s 9
9 Alexander Albon Toro Rosso/Honda 1m34.600s 1.770s 11
10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Honda 1m34.783s 1.953s 10
11 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1m34.938s 2.108s 11
12 Sergio Perez Racing Point/Mercedes 1m35.078s 2.248s 9
13 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1m35.142s 2.312s 11
14 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1m35.223s 2.393s 10
15 Pierre Gasly Red Bull/Honda 1m35.326s 2.496s 8
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1m35.726s 2.896s 12
17 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m35.771s 2.941s 14
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m35.998s 3.168s 15
19 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1m36.124s 3.294s 10
20 Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 1m36.176s 3.346s 11