» Rosberg blitzes final practice at Albert Park

Nico Rosberg has thrashed the rest of the field en route to setting the fastest time in final practice for the Australian Grand Prix. The German clocked a fastest time of 1:29.375 in a session hit with a brief ran shower and a number of off-track and mechanically-worrying incidents.

The Mercedes once again looked quickest, on both the harder and soft tyre compounds. Although the story wasn’t as good for Hamilton, as he finished 1.5 seconds off his team-mate.

Williams had a less encouraging day than yesterday, with Massa finishing in 12th and Bottas unable to set a time due to gearbox issues. Both he and Gutierrez, who also had troubles with his gear box, will receive a 5-place grid penalty as both gearboxes have been replaced.

Homeboy Daniel Ricciardo finished ahead of his team-mate in 5th position. Vettel, who was struggling with the set up of his car, was a full 2.8 seconds off Rosbergs time in 12th.

The weekend didn’t get any better for Lotus, who were one of the teams to use their ‘jokers’ and break curfew. Their mechanics were stuck at the track overnight until 8am Saturday morning. Judging by Grosjean’s description of the car as “unbelievable” and Maldonado’s break down on track they still have quite a bit of work to do.

Other drivers who impressed during FP3 were Alonso in 3rd, Hulkenberg in 6th, and rookie Daniil Kvyat, who found his confidence in the car and finished two spots ahead of his team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne in 11th.

2014 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Results:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:29.375		15
2.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:30.766	+ 1.391	20
3.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:30.876	+ 1.501	11
4.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:30.919	+ 1.544	13
5.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:30.970	+ 1.595	13
6.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:30.978	+ 1.603	16
7.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:31.156	+ 1.781	12
8.	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:31.251	+ 1.876	22
9.	Sergio Pérez	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:31.665	+ 2.290	17
10.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:31.723	+ 2.348	20
11.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:31.925	+ 2.550	17
12.	Sebastian Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:32.255	+ 2.880	14
13.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:32.417	+ 3.042	16
14.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:34.184	+ 4.809	15
15.	Adrian Sutil	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:34.188	+ 4.813	16
16.	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:34.413	+ 5.038	19
17.	Max Chilton	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:34.717	+ 5.342	15
18.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:34.754	+ 5.379	15
19.	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:36.159	+ 6.784	21
20.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	no time		2
21.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	no time		2
22.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	no time		4