Hamilton narrowly pips Rosberg in final Russian GP F1 practice
Lewis Hamilton grabbed top spot with his final fast lap of the third Formula 1 free practice session for the Russian Grand Prix
The reigning world champion had seemed to lack the pace to depose Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who spent much of the pair's battle at the top of the timesheets as the low wear and degradation at Sochi allowed drivers to reel off multiple fast laps on each set of rubber.
But while Rosberg opted to pit after completing 22 laps, Hamilton continued for one final attempt on the super-soft rubber that all drivers used to set their fastest times
As was the case throughout much of the session, Hamilton was fastest in sector one, but this time he also set the fastest middle sector and, despite not being able to match Rosberg's final sector pace, did enough to go fastest by 0.068 seconds.
Sebastian Vettel, who was slowest heading into the last runs after completing heavy fuel work for much of the session as he prepares for his grid penalty, jumped into contention for top spot in the final 10 minutes.
His mighty pace in the second sector briefly suggested he could challenge the Mercedes, but ultimately he was six-tenths down in third.
Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, seven-tenths slower than Vettel, but he could have been faster but for an error at the final corner on what might have been a stronger lap.
Williams duo Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, who both briefly held best of the rest status behind the two Mercedes driver after setting times on their final set of tyres before the Ferrari drivers, ended up fifth and sixth.
Max Verstappen was seventh for Toro Rosso, with Jenson Button a solid eighth after being able to extract better performance out of the super-soft tyres than was the case on Friday.
Carlos Sainz Jr and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10, the latter having briefly triggered a virtual safety car after going up the escape road at the Turn 13 right-hander at the end of the back straight and then needing assistance from the marshals to complete his U-turn to rejoin.
Daniel Ricciardo, who held top spot in the early going, ended up 11th but completed a large number of laps, second only to Vettel, in preparation for the race.
PRACTICE THREE TIMES
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m36.403s | - | 17 |
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m36.471s | 0.068s | 22 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m37.007s | 0.604s | 28 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m37.727s | 1.324s | 14 |
5 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m37.918s | 1.515s | 16 |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m37.985s | 1.582s | 16 |
7 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m38.133s | 1.730s | 22 |
8 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m38.260s | 1.857s | 14 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m38.465s | 2.062s | 25 |
10 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m38.542s | 2.139s | 18 |
11 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m38.622s | 2.219s | 23 |
12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m38.633s | 2.230s | 12 |
13 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1m39.047s | 2.644s | 15 |
14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m39.162s | 2.759s | 16 |
15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1m39.230s | 2.827s | 18 |
16 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1m39.238s | 2.835s | 16 |
17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m39.239s | 2.836s | 15 |
18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m39.589s | 3.186s | 19 |
19 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1m39.599s | 3.196s | 19 |
20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m39.663s | 3.260s | 18 |
21 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m39.740s | 3.337s | 23 |
22 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m39.898s | 3.495s | 19 |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments