Sochi, FP3: Hamilton fastest despite spin in final practice

Hamilton still in control in FP3

By Franck Drui

11 October 2014 - 11:05
Sochi, FP3: Hamilton fastest despite

After taking over from Nico Rosberg at the top of the Russian Grand Prix timesheets on Friday afternoon, F1 drivers’ championship leader Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace with the fastest time of the final practice session at the Sochi Autodrom.

With 10 minutes left in the hour-long session, Hamilton, using the quicker soft tyre, set a lap of 1:38.726 that proved unassailable. Rosberg’s first outing on the same tyre left him a second off Hamilton’s pace. The German’s final quick lap took him to P2 on the timesheet but significantly he ended the session almost three tenths of a second down on the Briton, a large margin.

Until Rosberg’s final lap, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas had held second position but the Mercedes man’s quickest time demoted the Finn to third spot, with his best time of 1:39.097 leaving him eight hundredths of a second adrift of Rosberg and just under four tenths down on Hamilton.

After a difficult day yesterday Red Bull Racing returned to the upper reaches of the order in FP3. On Friday afternoon, Daniel Ricciardo finished in 13th place after being forced to stop his car on circuit with a power unit issue. He bounced back this morning to fourth place with a time just over a second down on Hamilton’s. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, finished the final practice session in 10th place.

Fifth place in FP3 went to the second Williams of Felipe Massa.

On Friday, Toro Rosso looked to have made a step forward as Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric finished eighth and tenth respectively and local hero Kvyat continued the good form this morning with the Russian finishing in sixth place. Vergne was ninth, two tenths of a second behind his team-mate.

Kimi Raikkonen was seventh quickest for Ferrari, the Finn finishing just under 1500ths of a second ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso, who seemed to be struggling slightly at the new track.

Earlier, the session was red-flagged as it approached the 20-minute mark when Kevin Magnussen lost control of his McLaren. The Dane caught the car skillfully and managed to avoid a crash but after the car was returned to the garage a gearbox issue was diagnosed and he will take a five-place penalty after qualifying following a change.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:38.726 15
02 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:39.016 25
03 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1:39.097 20
04 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Renault 1:39.755 16
05 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:39.954 22
06 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Renault 1:40.009 27
07 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:40.011 20
08 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:40.151 15
09 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso Renault 1:40.205 26
10 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Renault 1:40.338 21
11 Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 1:40.355 19
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1:40.669 23
13 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:40.699 26
14 Adrian Sutil Sauber Ferrari 1:41.146 21
15 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber Ferrari 1:41.520 20
16 Romain Grosjean Lotus Renault 1:41.915 22
17 Kevin Magnussen McLaren Mercedes 1:42.436 4
18 Marcus Ericsson Caterham Renault 1:43.109 11
19 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham Renault 1:43.975 12
20 Max Chilton Marussia Ferrari 1:44.737 99
21 Pastor Maldonado Lotus Renault -:—.--- 2

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