Russian GP: Vettel, Raikkonen keep Ferrari on top in FP3

The German clocked a 1m34.001s on the ultrasoft Pirelli tyres, 0.337s quicker than teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Valtteri Bottas was Ferrari's closest challenger, 0.363s adrift in third and two tenths ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari and Mercedes headed out on the ultrasoft tyres early in the session as they battled to understand how to use their tyres in the most effective away ahead of qualifying.

After the first runs, Hamilton was quickest, 0.105s quicker than Vettel with Bottas third, a further tenth-and-a-half adrift.

With 20 minutes to go, Mercedes headed back out first, with Bottas going quickest with a 1m34.681s on his second timed lap, having done a build-up lap to get heat into the tyres.

Hamilton was on course to go quicker, using the same warm-up strategy, but made a series of mistakes in the final sector.

Raikkonen then put Ferrari top with a 1m34.338s before Vettel clocked the fastest-ever lap at Sochi with a 1m34.001s.

The German was on course to go even quicker and break the 1m34-barrier, but lost two tenths in the final sector.

Both Mercedes drivers improved on their second flying laps, but they stayed in third and fourth respectively.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was best of the rest in fifth, but he was 1.451s off the pace, a few thousandths clear of Felipe Massa.

Verstappen's teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who momentarily stopped on track in the closing minutes of the session before getting going again, was seventh ahead of Renault's Nico Hulkenberg.

Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen in the Haas completed the top 10.

Jolyon Palmer was the only driver who failed to set a time, with his Renault team deciding to change his engine ahead of qualifying.

That came after Renault's mechanics worked well into the night to complete a precautionary chassis change for the Briton after an exhaust leak on Friday.

Russian GP Practice 3 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	17	1'34.001
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	16	1'34.338	0.337
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	20	1'34.364	0.363
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	19	1'34.542	0.541
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	21	1'35.452	1.451
6	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	17	1'35.471	1.470
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	15	1'35.662	1.661
8	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	24	1'35.830	1.829
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	20	1'36.164	2.163
10	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	19	1'36.556	2.555
11	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	19	1'36.649	2.648
12	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	22	1'36.676	2.675
13	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	18	1'36.846	2.845
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	12	1'36.869	2.868
15	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	21	1'36.962	2.961
16	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	20	1'37.164	3.163
17	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	15	1'37.182	3.181
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	21	1'37.503	3.502
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	17	1'37.657	3.656
20	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	4