Shanghai FP3: Vettel and Ferrari take the high ground

A day earlier the Maranello outfit kept their powder dry and watched as Lewis Hamilton hogged the top of the timing screens, but Saturday morning was a different story altogether as they turned up the heat and set themselves up as the team to beat in qualifying.

It was a show of strength by the Maranello outfit as Vettel powered around the Shanghai International Circuit in a best time of 1:33.018 on another cold and gusty day in which grip was scarce, favourable to the Ferrari SF71H.

The championship leader was four tenths quicker than second-placed teammate Raikkonen - the pair focussing only on runs using the purple band Pirelli ultrasoft tyres

Three-quarters of a second adrift of the top time was Valtteri Bottas in third albeit 0.743 of a second adrift of Vettel who in turn was a full second faster than title rival Hamilton in fifth, the Briton apparently out of sorts in an untidy session for him.

On a circuit still damp from overnight rain, Hamilton twice ran onto the still damp artificial turf on the shoulder, spinning out at one point.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen split the silver cars on the timesheets, but teammate Ricciardo parked his car with smoke and fire belching from the area where a healthy Renault power unit lay. A blow for the energy drinks outfit and the Australian in particular who retired early from the race in Bahrain a week ago.

Kevin Magnussen continued to show good pace in the Haas and ended the session best of the rest but 1.3 seconds shy of the benchmark time, making it

After nine free practice sessions, two qualifyings and two races, Force India may have finally found the sweet spot on the VJM11 with their drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon enjoying a strong showing to finish seventh and eighth respectively.

Renault drivers Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg were ninth and 11th, the Spaniard 1.5 seconds down on Vettel's top time.

Surprise of the weekend, make that surprise of the year was rookie Sergey Sirotkin finding some handy pace in the troublesome Williams to claim tenth place and providing the beleaguered team a first glimmer of hope.

In comparison to Lance Stroll in the sister car, who spent day one anchored to the bottom of the timesheets, was 17th albeit six tenths adrift of his Russian teammate.

Both Mclaren's were out of the top ten with Fernando Alonso in 12th and Stoffel Vandoorne 13th.