EL3 in Shanghai: Bottas fastest, big crash for Albon

Valtteri Bottas is the only driver to go under 33 minutes at the end of the 5,4 km of the Shanghai circuit. His time of 1'32''830 pushes back his closest pursuer, Sebastian Vettel, by almost four tenths. The German of Ferrari however, made a slight error in his last flying lap. 

A fault without consequences, unlike that of the beginner Alexander albon, who veered wide at the last turn and lost control of his Toro Rosso on the astroturf before hitting the wall of tires located on the right of the track at high speed six minutes from the checkerboard. Result: red flag and a STR14 destroyed and difficult to repair for the qualifying session. Good news, the British rookie of Thai origin immediately confirmed on the radio that he was fine while apologizing to his team. 

Albon thumps into the wall as FP3 draws to a close

Great to see him walk away

Toro Rosso will need a minor miracle to get the car ready for qualifying #ChineseGP #Race1000 pic.twitter.com/guBKgi7AlH

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 13, 2019

Unhappy hero of Bahrain, Charles Leclerc is in 3rd place, 26 thousandths behind his teammate, while Lewis Hamilton, 4th, still seems to be in difficulty. The five-time world champion aborted his last timed attempt and was more than eight tenths short of the benchmark established by the Mercedes of head. 

Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) confirms his good intentions by winning the 5th time again. The former winner of 24 Hours of Le Mans ahead of the eternal Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) and the first Red Bull, that of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is one of three Honda-powered drivers present in the Top 10 on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately for Pierre Gasly, the other two are the Toro Rosso representatives: Albon, 9th, ahead of Daniil Kvyat. The Frenchman, for his part, must be content with a modest 15th time. In the middle of all these single-seaters bearing the red bull, the elder of the house Carlos Sainz hoist his McLaren in 8rd position.

In the second half of the ranking, let us point out the discreet 13th place of Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) and the 17th time of Romain Grosjean in front of your garage neighbor Kevin Magnussen, knowing that many drivers were unable to improve at the end of the session due to the red flag caused by Albon. 

FULL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP3)

Bottas heads the Ferrari duo, with Hulkenberg popping up into the top five #ChineseGP #Race1000 pic.twitter.com/5wX1KJ36gw

- Formula 1 (@ F1) April 13, 2019

Mercedes-Ferrari, the poster is well-known and it seems to be relevant again for the qualifications, which will be followed live with commentary via our live text CARhebdo.fr from 14:00 p.m. local time, or 08:00 a.m. in France.