Russian GP 2014

OCTOBER 11, 2014

Practice 3 Report - Business as usual

Lewis Hamilton, Russian GP 2014
© Active Pictures

 

It was business as usual on Saturday in Sochi with Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hamilton topping Free Practice 3.

Hamilton had dominated Friday afternoon practice and was 0.8 of a second quicker than his nearest challenger - Kevin Magnussen in the McLaren.

"The car's been feeling really good," Hamilton said after FP2. "The McLarens are obviously very close, which is good for everyone and having a race. The track is getting grippier and grippier and rubbering in quite a lot and there's a nice flow you can get on this track.

"The whole track is fun to drive, but Turn 3 is full gas and flat out. It's not a huge challenge because you can take an easy line through there, and when you are going into it you are thinking about the next corner and the position for the next one."

Max Chilton (Marussia) was the first to complete an installation lap under sunny skies. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) set a time of 1:42.988 for the others to shoot at.

8 minutes into the session, Hamilton laid down a time of 1:42.030. Two minutes later his teammate Nico Rosberg beat that with a 1:41.859. Rosberg had been very unhappy with his car's set-up on Friday.

At this stage of FP3 the drivers were on Pirelli's medium compound slick tires.

12 minutes into the session, Hamilton slammed in a 1:40.725. Rosberg improved but was still a tenth of a second off of Hamilton's time.

18 minutes into the session, Magnussen's McLaren stopped on track and brought out the red flags. Magnussen radioed in that he had suspension problems or maybe a flat tire.

The top six at this time were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Kvyat, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) and Jenson Button (McLaren).

24 minutes into the session, the green lights came on to restart FP3. Daniel Ricciardo, how had yet to do an installation lap in his Red Bull, emerged from the garages.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Valtteri Bottas (Williams) were on the move and claimed fourth and fifth places.

Midway through FP3 the top six were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Kvyat, Alonso, Bottas and Vettel. Pastor Maldonado had yet to set a time because of battery problems on his Lotus.

With 28 minutes remaining in the session, Bottas claimed first place with a 1:40.655.

With 24 minutes remaining in the session, Kvyat popped up to third.

With 23 minutes remaining in the session, Rosberg claimed the top spot with a 1:40.178.

With 17 minutes remaining in the session, Felipe Massa (Williams) moved into third place.

The top 10, just before the drivers went out on qualifying runs on the soft tires, were: Rosberg, Bottas, Massa, Hamilton, Kvyat, Alonso, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez (Forces India) and Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso).

And now the qualifying sims began with Button moving up to fourth.

With 10 minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton slammed in a 1:38.726 while Ricciardo slotted into fourth place.

The Red Bulls had struggled on Friday. "It looks like it is a circuit that is not in particular made for us," Vettel said.

With 5 minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton spun in Turn 17 but did not hit any barriers. The top six were now: Hamilton, Bottas, Rosberg, Massa, Ricciardo and Kvyat.

With a minute remaining in the session, Bottas improved but was still second behind Hamilton. But then Rosberg grabbed second place.

The McLarens looked very competitive on Friday, and Button was talking about podium finishes, but on Saturday he was only 11th quickest.

The top 10 at the end of FP3 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Bottas, Ricciardo, Massa, Kvyat, Raikkonen, Alonso, Vergne and Vettel.