Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Shanghai International Circuit, 2019

Bottas stays ahead as Albon crash ends session

2019 Chinese Grand Prix third practice

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Valtteri Bottas led the final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix which came to an early end after Alexander Albon crashed at the final corner.

The Toro Rosso driver lost control of his car at the exit of the final corner on his last flying lap of the session. The STR14 made heavy contact with the barrier, destroying the left-hand side of the car. Albon was able to climb out of his car.

Sebastian Vettel headed much of the practice session in his Ferrari having used soft tyres for his first run. However he failed to improve with his last effort, losing time with an error at turn nine.

That opened the door for Bottas. Having lapped half a second off Vettel on the medium compound, he found almost a second when he switched to the softs. A clean lap put him ahead by almost four tenths of a second. Their team mates came next, Charles Leclerc ending up just two-hundredths off Vettel.

The Red Bull drivers didn’t begin their first runs until halfway through the session, and their final efforts were compromised by Albon’s crash. That meant Max Verstappen, who did just five laps, slipped to seventh behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault and Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo.

Albon had been running well before he hit the barrier and ended up ninth, a tenth ahead of his team mate and within a tenth of Carlos Sainz Jnr’s McLaren. Lance Norris was just outside the top 10 in the other MCL34.

The Haas pair continued to struggle and ended the session with only the two Williams drivers behind them. George Russell was the quicker of the two FW42, and much closer to the midfield than they had been previously.

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Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
177Valtteri BottasMercedes1’32.83011
25Sebastian VettelFerrari1’33.2220.39212
316Charles LeclercFerrari1’33.2480.41810
444Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’33.6890.85910
527Nico HulkenbergRenault1’33.9741.14411
67Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’34.2461.41614
733Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’34.4471.6175
855Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’34.5101.6809
923Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’34.6001.77011
1026Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’34.7831.95310
114Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’34.9382.10811
1211Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’35.0782.2489
133Daniel RicciardoRenault1’35.1422.31211
1418Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’35.2232.39310
1510Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’35.3262.4968
1699Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’35.7262.89612
178Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’35.7712.94114
1820Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’35.9983.16815
1963George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’36.1243.29410
2088Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’36.1763.34611

Third practice visual gaps

Valtteri Bottas – 1’32.830

+0.392 Sebastian Vettel – 1’33.222

+0.418 Charles Leclerc – 1’33.248

+0.859 Lewis Hamilton – 1’33.689

+1.144 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’33.974

+1.416 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’34.246

+1.617 Max Verstappen – 1’34.447

+1.680 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’34.510

+1.770 Alexander Albon – 1’34.600

+1.953 Daniil Kvyat – 1’34.783

+2.108 Lando Norris – 1’34.938

+2.248 Sergio Perez – 1’35.078

+2.312 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’35.142

+2.393 Lance Stroll – 1’35.223

+2.496 Pierre Gasly – 1’35.326

+2.896 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’35.726

+2.941 Romain Grosjean – 1’35.771

+3.168 Kevin Magnussen – 1’35.998

+3.294 George Russell – 1’36.124

+3.346 Robert Kubica – 1’36.176

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Valtteri BottasMercedes1’34.6531’33.3301’32.830-0.571
2Sebastian VettelFerrari1’33.9111’33.3571’33.222-0.13564
3Charles LeclercFerrari1’34.1671’34.1581’33.248-0.9144
4Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’34.3341’33.5511’34.447+0.89654
5Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’34.1181’34.0371’33.689-0.34863
6Nico HulkenbergRenault1’35.5911’34.0961’33.974-0.12264
7Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’35.7561’34.1411’34.510+0.36969
8Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’35.7291’34.5511’34.246-0.30570
9Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’35.6311’34.2961’34.938+0.64273
10Daniel RicciardoRenault1’35.2391’34.3361’35.142+0.80666
11Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’35.4281’34.4551’35.326+0.87163
12Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’35.6951’34.6341’34.600-0.03474
13Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’35.4471’34.6941’34.783+0.08954
14Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’35.4661’34.7791’35.223+0.44472
15Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’35.8201’34.7841’35.078+0.29468
16Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’35.5171’34.7881’35.998+1.2174
17Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’35.5071’35.7041’35.771+0.26470
18Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’35.9141’35.726-0.18854
19Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’36.8471’36.1211’36.176+0.05576
20George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’37.6191’36.2291’36.124-0.10574

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2019 Chinese Grand Prix

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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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6 comments on “Bottas stays ahead as Albon crash ends session”

  1. That Ferrari advantage is HUGE, it’ gonna be tough for Mercedes, definitely the toughest ever start of the season for them.

  2. It was very unusual for Albon to hit the inside wall, good to see he was Ok and get out of car quickly.

  3. Pierre Gasly’s performances have been embarrasing to say the least. How can you be 15th in a car that should comfortably be inside the top 6, nearly a second off your teammate? If Red Bull had anyone lined up right now who they believed was ready for the step-up, they would likely give Gasly 2-3 races maximum before demoting him altogether. Perhaps Giovinanni and Gasly’s performances this season has shown just how mediocre the 2016 GP2 grid was, given they were both the top 2 in the championship that year. If Red Bull is willing to wait until the end of the season, one of Bottas or Ocon might be available (although Ocon and Verstappen’s past history might put them off).

    1. @mashiat Relax, it’s just practice. The positions and lap times as always don’t really matter in practice sessions the same as with testing.

    2. Tbf, gasly was on the mediums compared to max’s soft so tyre corrected, he’s much closer today

  4. Mercedes is doomed. That Ferrari advantage is just massive

    /sandbag

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