2015 F1 Round 1, Australian Grand Prix FP3: Hamilton leads, Vettel 0.696 seconds off the pace

The third free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix took place on Saturday morning ahead of qualifying, giving teams a final hour to refine their qualifying setups. Nasr appeared on the timesheets early on, before Lotus and Toro Rosso joined the action; both Manor cars remained in the garage with electronic software problems.

During the medium-tyre running, Hamilton had already established an advantage of around 0.8 seconds for Mercedes over Bottas’s Williams. He continued to lead after switching to soft tyres, while several drivers ran wide at Turn 9. Hamilton then found a better rhythm in the car.

Late in the session, Bottas reduced the gap to Hamilton to around 0.91 seconds. Hamilton immediately responded with a 1:27.867, extending his advantage again and securing the session’s fastest time. The Williams driver was unable to close the gap further in the final stages; Hamilton completed 11 laps.

Vettel finished second with a 1:28.563, reducing his deficit to Hamilton to 0.696 seconds. Ferrari split the two Mercedes cars and was the team closest to the leader. Vettel completed 13 laps, while Rosberg was third, 0.954 seconds behind.

Rosberg ranked third with a 1:28.821, 0.954 seconds behind Hamilton. Bottas was fourth with a 1:28.912, followed by Massa in fifth. The top six were covered by 1.150 seconds, with a clear pecking order on pace among the leading three teams.

Both Lotus drivers finished in the top eight: Grosjean was seventh with 12 laps completed, while Maldonado was eighth with 15 laps. Maldonado went into the gravel but was able to continue running, ultimately finishing behind his team-mate. He completed three more laps than Grosjean.

Sainz finished ninth, ahead of Nasr and Verstappen, with the trio occupying ninth to 11th. Ericsson had a pronounced slide at the exit of Turn 12 and ultimately finished 12th after completing 21 laps. Nasr completed 24 laps, while Verstappen ran 16.

Both Red Bull drivers encountered problems: Ricciardo’s car lost power as he left the pits and was pushed back, while Kvyat managed only 18th with six laps completed. McLaren’s Button and Magnussen finished 17th and 16th, completing 13 and 14 laps respectively.