Italian GP: Hamilton sets blistering pace in FP3

Hamilton used Pirelli's supersofts to set a best time of 1:22.008 that put him nearly four tenths of a second ahead of his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, second fastest.

Mercedes, which has led all sessions with a 1-2 so far, appeared to be in a league apart once more.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was third quickest, but almost a full second slower than Hamilton.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, 1.1 seconds off the pace, ahead of the two Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

The Red Bull team continued to lag behind the leading cars, with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen winding up seventh and eighth over 1.7 seconds off the pace.

Mexicans Sergio Perez (Force India) and Esteban Gutierrez in the Haas completed the top 10.

As the fastest drivers took it easy at the start of the session, it was the Haas duo Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean who set the early pace.

But Grosjean's session came to an early finish when he lost the rear of his car 12 minutes into the session at the Variante Ascari, the Frenchman spinning into the gravel.

That triggered a Virtual Safety Car period while the Haas was recovered.

After that ended, the frontrunners jumped onto the track, Ricciardo moving to P1 ahead of teammate Verstappen, the Australian using supersofts while the Dutchman used the softs.

Hamilton and Rosberg - both on softs - moved to the top of the times right after that, the Briton posting a 1:22.856 as the German lost time behind a slow Verstappen, who appeared not to see his rival in the mirrors at the second chicane.

"What on Earth was that?" complained the Mercedes driver on the radio.

Vettel split the Mercedes duo, but fell nearly half a second short of Hamilton's best despite running on supersofts.

Raikkonen also used the softest rubber to move up to fourth, over six tenths off the pace.

At the back of the field, meanwhile, Esteban Ocon appeared to have more problems with his Manor after yesterday's stoppage, the Frenchman only completing an installation lap after the halfway point.

Verstappen moved up to sixth with a run on supersofts, but it was the Red Bull driver's time to get impeded, this time by Magnussen at Ascari.

With less than 20 minutes to go, Mercedes started to show its hand, first Rosberg going quickest with the best time of the weekend and seconds later Hamilton setting a blistering 1:22.008 that put him nearly four tenths ahead of his teammate and over 1.3 seconds in front of the Ferraris.

Vettel reduced the gap with less than 10 minutes left on the clock, but the German was still nearly a second off the pace despite running new supersofts.

The session came to an end with an incident from Renault's Jolyon Palmer, who went off at Parabolica.

Free practice 3 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	14	1'22.008
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	17	1'22.401	0.393	0.393
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	13	1'22.946	0.938	0.545
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	12	1'23.149	1.141	0.203
5	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	20	1'23.500	1.492	0.351
6	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	19	1'23.647	1.639	0.147
7	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	23	1'23.709	1.701	0.062
8	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	21	1'23.740	1.732	0.031
9	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	20	1'23.917	1.909	0.177
10	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	15	1'24.034	2.026	0.117
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	21	1'24.041	2.033	0.007
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	11	1'24.104	2.096	0.063
13	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	17	1'24.240	2.232	0.136
14	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	4	1'24.463	2.455	0.223
15	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	13	1'24.533	2.525	0.070
16	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	20	1'24.542	2.534	0.009
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	12	1'24.658	2.650	0.116
18	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	19	1'24.715	2.707	0.057
19	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	12	1'24.793	2.785	0.078
20	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	17	1'24.845	2.837	0.052
21	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	Mercedes	19	1'24.893	2.885	0.048
22	Esteban Ocon	Manor	Mercedes	15	1'24.938	2.930	0.045