Trouble for Alonso as Hamilton completes clean sweep

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of FP3 for the Chinese Grand Prix as Fernando Alonso failed to complete a lap.

Hamilton completed a clean sweep of all three practice sessions as he headed team-mate Nico Rosberg by just over 0.2s in Shanghai. The two Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth, 0.7s and 0.9s off the pace respectively.

Alonso's running was over before the session was two minutes old as he stopped on track at Turn 4 on his out lap, leaving him on the back foot going in to qualifying this afternoon. However, team-mate Jenson Button remained competitive over one lap despite finishing far down the order.

With Button ending the session in 15th place, McLaren told him over the radio: "P10 is less than 0.3s up the road, so all to play for going in to qualifying".

Ferrari will also have been encouraged by its final practice pace as it showed itself to be clearly second quickest over one lap, with Raikkonen over half a second clear of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place. Ferrari's aim in qualifying will be to lock out the second row in order to threaten Mercedes in Sunday's race.

Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat cemented Red Bull's place as the third quickest team, but there were still issues as Ricciardo completed just eight laps and Kvyat returned to the pits after reporting "no power" while also being told not to use the brakes heavily.

Carlos Sainz Jr finished the session in seventh place and was within 0.1s of Ricciardo as Toro Rosso continued to look a threat to its sister team. Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean rounded out the top ten, with the 17-year-old Toro Rosso driver suffering a spin at Turn 1.

Felipe Massa was 11th for Williams but endured a worrying moment early in the session as he reported smoke in the cockpit and returned to the pits for further checks. He wasn't the only driver suffering in the cockpit, with Hamilton reporting he was getting too hot in his seat and seeking a replacement.

While Manor completed further mileage - with Will Stevens comfortably inside 107% - Roberto Merhi was outside the cut-off in the final session. However, with Merhi having been inside the required time in FP2 and Mercedes unlikely to run the soft tyre in Q1, both cars should be able to qualify.

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Chinese Grand Prix 

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