Lewis Hamilton laid down an ominous warning to championship rival Sebastian Vettel by setting a blistering pace in final practice for the Russian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who holds a 40-point title lead over the Ferrari driver, set a new track record of one minute and 33.067 seconds at the Sochi Autodrom.
The Mercedes driver finished 0.254secs clear of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with Vettel third, six tenths adrift.
🔥🔥 1:33.067 🔥🔥 That’s a new @SochiAutodrom track record for @LewisHamilton!!#RussianGP 🇷🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/zXEJi1cbKW — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) September 29, 2018
Hamilton, 33, struggled for pace in Russia last year, but the world champion has been in impressive form so far this weekend.
The Englishman has won four of the last five rounds, and is now the favourite to put his Mercedes on pole in qualifying later on Saturday.
Vettel looked sluggish in the final running on Friday, and the German will be concerned by his eye-watering gap to Hamilton on Saturday morning.
FP3 CLASSIFICATION: @MercedesAMGF1 on top as we head in to qualifying! #RussianGP 🇷🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZjPCsXSwj4 — Formula 1 (@F1) September 29, 2018
Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was fractionally slower than the sister Ferrari, with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen fifth.
The Dutchman, who turns 21 on Sunday, is due to start from the back of the grid following a series of engine penalties.
That's a wrap for practice 👌 Max is P5 with a 1:33.937 and Daniel is P6 posting a 1:34.394 🇷🇺 #RussianGP pic.twitter.com/1eb0Lp7Ixv — Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) September 29, 2018
His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who finished sixth in the final practice session, the Toro Rosso pair of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will also be demoted down the order
for exceeding the number of allocated engine parts, too.
Sauber driver Charles Leclerc, Force India’s Esteban Ocon, the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, and Sergio Perez – in the other Force India – rounded out the top 10.
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