EL3 in Melbourne: Hamilton continues

Received 3 out of 3. Lewis Hamilton left only crumbs to his opponents during the free runs in Melbourne. Already author of the Friday reference aboard his Mercedes W10, the five-time world champion continued with the best time in EL3 and a time of 1'22'292 signed using Pirelli's soft red C4 compound. 

Hamilton precedes both Ferrari SF90 Sebastian Vettel et Charles Leclerc of respectively 0,264s and 0,457s. The rest of the ranking is more surprising with the presence of Haas VF-19 Romain Grosjean et Kevin Magnussen in the 4th and 5th rows. 

The best Red Bull is only 6th and it is that of Pierre Gasly, who is ahead of his teammate Max Verstappen of three positions. The stable of Milton Keynes had to change the Dutchman's chassis during the night after discovering a potential problem with the fuel tank of his RB15. 

Valtteri Bottas appeared in difficulty again at the wheel of his Flèche d'Argent and had to settle for 7th fastest time, ahead of the Toro Rosso by Daniil Kvyat who continues to impress. Daniel Ricciardo completes the Top 10 ahead of his teammate Nico Hulkenberg of a handful of thousandths.

Hamilton heads the times in final practice 

With the @ScuderiaFerrari duo breathing down his neck #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/u0OZHRKFe8

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 16, 2019

At the forefront on Friday, Alfa finished behind at the start of the afternoon in Melbourne: Antonio Giovinazzi was 12th, Kimi Räikkönen 17th. The bottom of the timesheet continues to be occupied by Racing Point, McLaren, and Williams. 

Hamilton against the Ferraris, this seems to be the battle announced for qualifying, which begins at 17:00 p.m. local time, or 07:00 a.m. in France. You will be able to follow the battle for pole position live with commentary via our live text on CARhebdo.fr.