Shanghai FP3: Hamilton in a case of catch me if you can

Lewis Hamilton backed up his strong claims for a third-straight pole position by topping the timesheets in the final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix in his Mercedes on Saturday.

Hamilton lapped the 5.451-km Shanghai International Circuit in one minute, 37.615 seconds to complete a clean sweep of pre-qualifying dominance after previously leading the way in both of Friday's sessions.

Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg was second, two-tenths of a second slower than the reigning world champion, followed by the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

Vettel and Ferrari continue to lead the chasing pack behind the dominant German outfit and will be hoping to follow up the German driver's stunning win in Malaysia with another strong showing in China.

The team made the most of sweltering track conditions in Sepang and are comfortably the closest challengers to Mercedes this weekend but appear unable to match the formidable one-lap pace of the championship leaders in cooler Chinese conditions.

Daniel Ricciardo fortified his claim that Red Bull are the third fastest on the grid by setting the fifth-quickest time ahead of team mate Daniil Kvyat.

Williams endured a disappointing session in their bid to re-establish themselves as a possible winner in China and could only manage the eighth and 11th-fastest times with Valtteri Bottas finishing ahead of Felipe Massa.

The Brazilian, whose Friday action came to an abrupt end after a high-speed accident, complained of smoke in the cockpit during the session.

McLaren had enjoyed an encouraging day of running on Friday but their reliability issues resurfaced a day later as Fernando Alonso ground to a halt moments after he exited the pits on his first lap, with his Honda-powered car smoking from the rear.

Jenson Button, who had ended Friday in the top-10, could only finish 15th but the 2009 world champion is at least on course to make it through to the second session of qualifying, a feat beyond McLaren in the first two rounds of the season.

[highlight ]Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai International Circuit - Free Practice 3, Saturday 11 April 2015[/highlight]