Malaysian GP: Hamilton fastest in final free practice at Sepang
Lewis Hamilton put in a convincing performance to set the fastest time in the final free practice session ahead of the Formula 1 Malaysian Grand Prix
Mercedes driver Hamilton topped the timesheets at the end of the hour-long session at Sepang with a time of 1m34.434s, almost half a second faster than Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Halfway through proceedings, Hamilton was quickest on Pirelli's medium tyres with a 1m35.612s, seven tenths faster than team-mate Nico Rosberg on the same compound.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who had endured an unusually off-the-pace Friday, then went fastest by 0.151s from Hamilton, albeit on the soft rubber.
Three quarters of the way through the session, Rosberg went fastest with a lap of 1m35.293s on the soft compound.
But the winner of the last three grands prix was swiftly deposed by Hamilton by 0.8s on his qualifying simulation lap on softs, and although Rosberg managed a second hot lap on his own set of softs, he could only get to within 0.619s.
The championship leader was then demoted to third as Verstappen managed to split the Mercedes pair to close to within 0.445s of Hamilton.
Ferrari duo Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were fourth and fifth quickest respectively, albeit seven tenths of a second off the pace, with Ricciardo down in sixth, just over a second adrift.
McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who will start at the back of the grid on Sunday after taking a 45-place grid penalty for various Honda power unit component changes, ended up last and almost seven seconds down.
Alonso has reverted to the power unit used in Belgium, with McLaren eager not to over exert it ahead of a qualifying session in which he will do only one lap to be within 107%.
The final corner, which was criticised by a number of drivers following Friday's sessions given its reprofiling as on off-camber corner, again proved problematic.
Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez was the first to suffer a major moment, spinning after losing the rear on entry - just falling short of the gravel - forcing Rosberg to back off on what would have been his best lap using the medium Pirellis.
With drivers forced to take an unusual line through the corner as they are unable to hug the apex, Vettel - who had described the turn as "mean" - was the next to spin after over committing slightly, wiping out a marker bollard in the process.
Force India's Sergio Perez also fell foul of Turn 15, suffering a big lock up that resulted in him ending the session down in 11th.
PRACTICE THREE TIMES:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | Mercedes | 1m34.434s | - | 16 |
2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | Red Bull/Renault | 1m34.879s | 0.445s | 14 |
3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | Mercedes | 1m35.053s | 0.619s | 16 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 1m35.150s | 0.716s | 15 |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 1m35.170s | 0.736s | 14 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | Red Bull/Renault | 1m35.461s | 1.027s | 22 |
7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sahara Force India F1 Team | Force India/Mercedes | 1m35.776s | 1.342s | 16 |
8 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams Martini Racing | Williams/Mercedes | 1m35.902s | 1.468s | 17 |
9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Scuderia Toro Rosso | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m36.222s | 1.788s | 18 |
10 | Felipe Massa | Williams Martini Racing | Williams/Mercedes | 1m36.227s | 1.793s | 20 |
11 | Sergio Perez | Sahara Force India F1 Team | Force India/Mercedes | 1m36.259s | 1.825s | 15 |
12 | Jenson Button | McLaren Honda | McLaren/Honda | 1m36.363s | 1.929s | 11 |
13 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas F1 Team | Haas/Ferrari | 1m36.553s | 2.119s | 14 |
14 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault Sport F1 Team | Renault | 1m36.604s | 2.170s | 20 |
15 | Romain Grosjean | Haas F1 Team | Haas/Ferrari | 1m36.687s | 2.253s | 15 |
16 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault Sport F1 Team | Renault | 1m36.741s | 2.307s | 19 |
17 | Daniil Kvyat | Scuderia Toro Rosso | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m36.752s | 2.318s | 20 |
18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber F1 Team | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m36.765s | 2.331s | 19 |
19 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber F1 Team | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m37.106s | 2.672s | 18 |
20 | Esteban Ocon | Manor Racing MRT | Manor/Mercedes | 1m37.961s | 3.527s | 17 |
21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor Racing MRT | Manor/Mercedes | 1m38.089s | 3.655s | 13 |
22 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren Honda | McLaren/Honda | 1m41.199s | 6.765s | 15 |
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