It was a wet and uneventful Saturday afternoon for the third free practice session (FP3) at the Australian GP. Yesterday was a dry day, giving drivers the chance to put in 30 or so laps each for Practice 2. In FP3 today, the final practice, the most people could get in was 16 laps, with the Force India team not even setting a time.
Ferrari Reigns Supreme Under Wet Conditions In FP3
Although the track conditions were tough to deal with at the start of the session, the rain did eventually stop and the track started to dry up. When asked, Stoffel Vandoorne described the early conditions as “greasy”, over his team radio. To show how much the lap times were changing from the start of the practice to the end of the session, at the half point of the session, Max Verstappen had the best time at 1:35.548. Once we had reached the end of the session, Sebastian Vettel clocked a 1:26.067 to top the leaderboard.
The shift in track conditions came at around the halfway point of the session. With 26 minutes to go, Fernando Alonso told his team “The track is drying up quickly, I think this is last lap on inters (Intermediate tyre)”. The majority of the fastest laps came in the final moments of the practice. Ferrari placed first and second in the leaderboard, with the top team Mercedes lying in only the 7th and 8th position. Ocon and Perez for Force India went out ono the track for only one lap each and did not set any lap time.
Qualifying starts in under two hours, a session which should have some better weather. Whether we will see Lewis Hamilton repeat Pole Position in Australia or a different driver will be decided.
Free Practice 3 Results:
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:26.067 | 15 | |
| 2 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:28.499 | +2.432 | 13 |
| 3 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:28.890 | +2.823 | 14 |
| 4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 1:31.680 | +5.613 | 8 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1:33.172 | +7.105 | 11 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:34.043 | +7.976 | 14 |
| 7 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:1:34.174 | +8.107 | 14 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34.225 | +8.158 | 7 |
| 9 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:34.233 | +8.166 | 15 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:34.298 | +8.231 | 13 |
| 11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 1:34.990 | +8.923 | 16 |
| 12 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1:35.438 | +9.371 | 16 |
| 13 | 35 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 1:35.589 | +9.522 | 16 |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:35.828 | +9.761 | 8 |
| 15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:36.171 | +10.104 | 6 |
| 16 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 1:36.448 | +10.381 | 12 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:36.807 | +10.740 | 7 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:38.482 | +12.415 | 8 |
| 19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | N/A | N/A | 1 |
| 20 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | N/A | N/A | 1 |
MAIN PHOTO:
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