Hamilton sets a new track record to top FP3

Lewis Hamilton has finished in P1 after the final practice session. A lap record set highlights the Mercedes dominance going into the Russian Grand Prix weekend. It took him a while to get started but the once the Brit got on track, his pace with the hyper-soft tyres was strong. Valtteri Bottas completed the Mercedes 1-2 as they take good momentum into qualifying this afternoon. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished 3rd and 4th. 

A dry, uneventful session demonstrated that Mercedes are firmly on top going into qualifying this afternoon. Just after the half-way mark, Ferrari mechanics were working on both cars. The Italians need some extra pace to match their rivals.

Fernando Alonso was first out of the garage, desperate to make amends for some McLaren disappointment yesterday. He produced plenty of laps in the early stages of the session and held P1 until the Williams boys took charge.

Ferrari then took to the track and looked keen to gather as many laps as possible. The pair produced 12 laps between them in the opening 20 minutes before heading to the garage to pick up some upgrades.

Bottas was first to challenge the Ferrari. A challenge which proved successful as his fast lap was enough to knock Vettel off the top of the ladder. This was soon followed by Hamilton, the championship leader who produced a 1:33.496.

Following the upgrades, with 15 minutes to go, the Ferrari cars emerged back on track looking to do some qualifying simulation runs. Vettel ran wide on one occasion but managed to avoid the barriers. Some fine set-up tweaking required. 

Hamilton then produced a lap record in the final few laps of the session to top the session with a 1:33.067.

Elsewhere in the field, the Red Bull boys finished 5th and 6th. Max Verstappen was fighting the car early in the session but ran wide on a couple of occasions making for a few ropey laps.

Charles Leclerc finishes in 7th, the best of the rest as he proves he has the ability to drive a Ferrari next season. Ocon, Magnussen and Perez round out the top 10 adding further worry to Renault in the battle for 4th.

A sad sight at the bottom of the table as Alonso finishes 20th. One place down on team-mate Vandoorne.