Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in final F1 practice

Lewis Hamilton loves driving the fastest car in F1
Lewis Hamilton loves driving the fastest car in F1

Using the superior Mercedes handling and power, Lewis Hamilton edged out teammate Nico Rosberg in final practice for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel only two tenths off the pace.

Mercedes used the super-soft tires for the first time this year, with Hamilton clocking a 1m25.624s, 0.176s ahead of Rosberg.

Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr, running a 2015-spec Ferrari engine, split the Ferraris on the super-softs to go fourth quickest, 0.633s adrift of Hamilton and two tenths clear of Kimi Raikkonen.

The other Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen was sixth, ahead of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

F1 rookie ride-buyer Rio Haryanto and Romain Grosjean collided in the pitlane early in the session when they were both released at the same time.

Results

Pos Driver Car/Engine Time Gap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes/Mercedes 1m25.624s 0.000s 24
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes/Mercedes 1m25.800s 0.176s 25
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari/Ferrari 1m25.852s 0.228s 25
4 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m26.257s 0.633s 28
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari/Ferrari 1m26.435s 0.811s 23
6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m26.701s 1.077s 26
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m26.730s 1.106s 28
8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/TAG Heuer 1m26.768s 1.144s 22
9 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m27.151s 1.527s 28
10 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m27.242s 1.618s 22
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m27.263s 1.639s 20
12 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m27.341s 1.717s 20
13 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/TAG Heuer 1m27.430s 1.806s 22
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m27.659s 2.035s 26
15 Kevin Magnussen Renault/Renault 1m27.871s 2.247s 24
16 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m27.988s 2.364s 22
17 Jolyon Palmer Renault/Renault 1m28.117s 2.493s 24
18 Esteban Gutierrez Haas/Ferrari 1m28.284s 2.660s 21
19 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m28.292s 2.668s 11
20 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m28.293s 2.669s 26
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor/Mercedes 1m29.046s 3.422s 18
22 Rio Haryanto Manor/Mercedes 1m29.272s 3.648s 23