Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Albert Park, 2019

Hamilton completes practice sweep in Melbourne

2019 Australian Grand Prix third practice

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Lewis Hamilton completed a sweep of leading all three practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix.

However the Mercedes driver’s advantage was trimmed in the final hour of practice, which ended with the Ferraris occupying second and third places. Sebastian Vettel was the quicker of the two, 0.264s off Hamilton’s benchmark time.

Hamilton was the last driver to set a time during the session but set the pace as soon as he did. Team mate Valtteri Bottas made a mistake at turn 14 on his quickest effort, ran through the grass, and ended up over a second of his team mate.

That allowed the Haas pair to claim the fourth and fifth fastest times, beating both the Honda-powered Red Bulls. Romain Grosjean led the pair, eight-tenths off the ultimate pace but just half a second off the Ferrari with the same engine.

Pierre Gasly was the quicker of the Red Bull drivers but a full second away from Hamilton’s pace, and only a few hundredths quicker than Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso. Max Verstappen made it three Honda-powered cars in the top 10, while Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10.

There was little to choose between the Renault pair, Nico Hulkenberg lapping just four-hundredths slower. Alfa Romeo didn’t replicate their Friday pace, Antonio Giovinazzi leading the way in 12th, five places ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Williams were little closer to the pace in the final hour of testing. Robert Kubica ended the session at the bottom of the times after hitting the pit wall following one run.

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Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’22.29212
25Sebastian VettelFerrari1’22.5560.26412
316Charles LeclercFerrari1’22.7490.45712
48Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’23.1120.82017
520Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’23.3341.04215
610Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’23.3671.07517
777Valtteri BottasMercedes1’23.4221.13017
826Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’23.4421.15016
933Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’23.4811.18919
103Daniel RicciardoRenault1’23.6951.40314
1127Nico HulkenbergRenault1’23.7371.44515
1299Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’23.8311.53916
1355Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’24.0491.75721
1411Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’24.0821.79018
1523Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’24.3282.03615
1618Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’24.3452.05316
177Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’24.4022.11018
184Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’24.5682.27616
1963George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’25.9443.65214
2088Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’26.5894.29716

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Third practice visual gaps

Lewis Hamilton – 1’22.292

+0.264 Sebastian Vettel – 1’22.556

+0.457 Charles Leclerc – 1’22.749

+0.820 Romain Grosjean – 1’23.112

+1.042 Kevin Magnussen – 1’23.334

+1.075 Pierre Gasly – 1’23.367

+1.130 Valtteri Bottas – 1’23.422

+1.150 Daniil Kvyat – 1’23.442

+1.189 Max Verstappen – 1’23.481

+1.403 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’23.695

+1.445 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’23.737

+1.539 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’23.831

+1.757 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’24.049

+1.790 Sergio Perez – 1’24.082

+2.036 Alexander Albon – 1’24.328

+2.053 Lance Stroll – 1’24.345

+2.110 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’24.402

+2.276 Lando Norris – 1’24.568

+3.652 George Russell – 1’25.944

+4.297 Robert Kubica – 1’26.589

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’23.5991’22.6001’22.292-0.30871
2Sebastian VettelFerrari1’23.6371’23.4731’22.556-0.91765
3Valtteri BottasMercedes1’23.8661’22.6481’23.422+0.77480
4Charles LeclercFerrari1’23.6731’23.7541’22.749-0.92465
5Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’25.2241’23.8141’23.112-0.70272
6Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’24.9341’23.9881’23.334-0.65466
7Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’24.9321’23.4421’23.367-0.07571
8Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’23.7921’23.4001’23.481+0.08174
9Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’24.8321’23.9331’23.442-0.49182
10Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’24.8161’23.5721’24.402+0.8376
11Nico HulkenbergRenault1’25.0151’23.5741’23.737+0.16363
12Daniel RicciardoRenault1’25.6341’23.6441’23.695+0.05161
13Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’25.1661’24.2931’23.831-0.46276
14Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’25.2881’24.0111’24.345+0.33480
15Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’25.2851’24.1331’24.049-0.08466
16Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’25.4981’24.4011’24.082-0.31973
17Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’25.2301’24.6751’24.328-0.34776
18Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’25.9661’24.7331’24.568-0.16573
19George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’28.7401’26.4531’25.944-0.50971
20Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’27.9141’26.6551’26.589-0.06674

2019 Australian Grand Prix

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    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    2 comments on “Hamilton completes practice sweep in Melbourne”

    1. Mclaren need to get themselves sorted out here. They are embarrassing.

      1. @krichelle

        I’m surprised you thought they were going to show any more pace. I’m expecting Norris out in Q1, and Sainz might only get through because there are Albon looks shaky to opening weekend and the Force indias are still getting to grips with their new machine.

    Comments are closed.