Italian GP 2016, Practice Three: Lewis Hamilton sets the pace again

Lewis Hamilton dominated final practice for the Italian GP as Mercedes set an ominous pace at the front of the field.

Having already led the way on soft tyres at the start of the session, an on-song Hamilton produced a lap of 1:22.008 - the fastest time of the week so far - on the supersofts to out-pace Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by four tenths.

To the dismay of the Tifosi in the grandstands, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was nearly a full second adrift of Hamilton's benchmark even after a late improvement. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, 1.1 seconds behind Hamilton. 

"The gap is pretty gaping," concluded Sky F1's Damon Hill.

With Mercedes appearing to be a class apart heading into this afternoon's qualifying, Williams produced a surprise in the Saturday morning Practice Three hour by out-pacing Red Bull. 

Ferrari, who have introduced an upgraded engine for their home race, do at least seem likely to make the second row in qualifying but the battle for pole position looks set to be an exclusive contest between Hamilton and Rosberg given the magnitude of Mercedes' speed superiority. 

Only four teams featured in the top eight with both Mercedes cars followed by two Ferraris, a pair of Red Bulls and the Williamses. The sequence would have stretched to cover the entire top ten but for Haas' Esteban Gutierrez outpacing Force India's Nico Hulkenberg behind Sergio Perez.

The Haas outfit are also running Ferrari's new engines this weekend although their hopes of reaching Q3 were hit by Romain Grosjean spinning off to miss the final 50 minutes of the session. 

After encouraging glimpses of pace in Friday practice, McLaren slipped back. Jenson Button was 12th, five places ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso after a scruffy fastest lap by the Spaniard. 

Qualifying starts at 1pm UK Time.

Practice Three timesheet
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:22.008
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, +0.393
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, +0.938
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, +1.141
5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, +1.492
6. Felipe Massa, Williams, +1.639
7. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, +1.701
8. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +1.732
9. Sergio Perez, Force India, +1.909
10. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, +2.026
11. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, +2.033
12. Jenson Button, McLaren, +2.096
13. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, +2.232
14. Romain Grosjean, Haas, +2.455
15. Jolyon Palmer, Renault. +2.525
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, +2.534
17. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, +2.650
18. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, +2.707
19. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, +2.785
20. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, +2.837
21. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, +2.885
22. Esteban Ocon, Manor, +2.930