After seeing AT&T Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima finish Friday practice in tenth and sixteenth the team was hoping for an improvement comes Saturday. The third practice session for the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix would get underway with the usual rush of drivers taking to the track for their
installation lap. The exception to this was both of the Ferrari's. Both Kazuki and Nico would continue on the track for a second lap but both would pit briefly and return to the track. Kazuki followed by Nico would again pit leaving the track empty.

Alonso, Trulli, and Glock would return to the track. The second Renault of Piquet was next out, joined by Fisichella and Sutil. Alonso would set the first time with a 1m:38.477. Glock would move ahead with a 1m:37.913 but was passed by Piquet with a time of 1m:37.483. The majority of the field, including both Ferraris' were out on the track with just over forty minutes remaining. Trulli would improve to now be third, 1m:38.316. Both Kazuki and Nico were out on the track. Piquet had improved his time with a 1m:37.349. Alonso had pitted while Raikkonen moved ahead of Trulli and into third with a 1m:38.008. Fisichella was now fifth, 1m:38.303, while Kazuki was in ninth with a time of 1m:38.788. Nico's first
lap was a slow 1m:51.557. Glock was now fastest with a 1m:37.294, followed by Piquet and Coulthard. Raikkonen was fourth followed by Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, and Fisichella. Kazuki was now sixth as he improved his time with a 1m:38.146. Nico's next lap would see him in fourth, 1m:37.477.

Kovalainen was now fastest, 1m:37.079, but team-mate Hamilton would move ahead of him with a time of 1m:37.077. Kovalainen, Glock, and Piquet had all pitted. Nico was now down in sixth and Kazuki tenth. But it would be Massa who was now fastest with a time of 1m:36.983. But after his strong Friday showing, Bourdais would move ahead of the Ferrari with a 1m:36.860. Nico was now eighth, 1m:37.477, and Kazuki thirteenth, 1m:37.988. On his next lap Nico would again improve his time with a 1m:37.045 to move into fourth. Hamilton was again fastest with a 1m:36.669. Kazuki had pitted while Coulthard was now sixth. Bourdais had improved his lap time with a 1m:36.732 but remained in second. team-mate Vettel was in eighth.

Hamilton and Nico had pitted. With just over half the session remaining the order was Hamilton from Bourdais, Massa, Nico, Kovalainen, Coulthard, Glock, Vettel, Piquet, and Raikkonen in tenth. Massa would pit briefly while Barrichello moved into third, but was this a low fuel run. Hamilton would have a problem when he was trying to enter the pit lane. He would miss the entry going straight on to avoid the gravel trap at the pit lane entry and would have to reverse back to allow him to enter the pits. Nico was now in fifth while Kazuki had dropped down to sixteenth. Only a handful of drivers remained on the track while Piquet improved to be seventh, 1m:37.208. The next lap he was up to sixth, 1m:37.076. Kazuki was back out on the track.

Heidfeld was able to move into thirteenth, 1m:37.734, as Kazuki dropped to seventeenth. Button was in eleventh, 1m:37.415, as Nico returned to the track with just over twenty minutes remaining. Hamilton was also back out as Kovalainen went fastest with a 1m:36.571. But just as quickly Hamilton would move ahead of him with a 1m:36.416. Bourdais was now third followed Barrichello, Massa, and Nico now in sixth. Kovalainen would pit followed by Hamilton. Kazuki would pit still down the order in seventeenth. Alonso was down in eighteenth, while Raikkonen was in twelfth. Thirteenth placed Webber had stoped in the final sector with a engine problem. He will get a ten place grid penalty if it requires and engine change. Nico would pit again still in sixth.

With ten minutes left Piquet would move into fourth with a 1m:36.789. Most of the field weer back in their pits making preparations for the practice qualifying runs. Button would move into sixth, 1m:36.958, right behind his team-mate on what was most likely a low fuel run. Trulli would improve to eighth, 1m:36.964. Nico was now ninth and Kazuki eighteenth. Hamilton was back out with six minutes remaining, joined by Kovalainen. Button and Trulli would pit while Nico would return to the track.

As the minutes counted down more drivers would return to the track. Hamilton was on the softer tyre as he improved his time with a 1m:36.135 to remain fastest. Nico was on a quick lap finishing with a 1m:36.427 to move into fourth. Kubica was now second improving his time with a 1m:36.150. Everyone was on the track as Heidfeld went fastest with a 1m:36.061.

Nico was now fifth while Kazuki had improved to be seventh, 1m:36.713. Both Massa and Trulli were on quick laps as the session came to a close. Alonso was also on a fast lap while Trulli moved into fifth, 1m:36.396. Alonso would only improve to be fifteenth. Raikkonen was down in thirteenth and Massa twelfth. Things were not looking good for the Ferrari pair. So with the end of the session the order was Heidfeld from Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Nico, Bourdais, Coulthard, Kazuki, and in tenth Piquet. Nico was just three tenths of Heidfeld's quickest time so things were looking promising for the qualifying session.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber            (B)  1:36.061 17
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:36.135 15
 3.  Kubica       BMW Sauber            (B)  1:36.150 18
 4.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:36.324 16 
 5.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:36.396 22 
 6.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:36.427 20 
 7.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:36.642 20 
 8.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:36.712 18 
 9.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:36.713 20 
10.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:36.789 20 
11.  Barrichello  Honda                 (B)  1:36.839 19 
12.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:36.842 16 
13.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:36.901 15 
14.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:36.902 18 
15.  Button       Honda                 (B)  1:36.958 18 
16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:36.996 18
17.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:37.053 22 
18.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:37.566 12 
19.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari   (B)  1:37.648 19 
20.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari   (B)  1:37.964 18