Practice 3 Report - Split Decision

Free Practice 3 for the Bahrain Grand Prix ended with the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers split up between themselves. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) was quickest, followed by Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).

The ambient temperature five minutes before the start of the session was 84 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Centigrade).

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes “ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Red Bull Renault “ Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. Williams Mercedes “ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari “ Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. McLaren Honda “ Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Force India Mercedes “ Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Toro Rosso Renault “ Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Lotus Mercedes “ Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. Marussia Ferrari “ Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. Sauber “ Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

Nasr posted a time of 1:38.095 to give the others something to shoot for.

As most of the drivers had not gone out, Nasr remained on top 13 minutes into the session.

17 minutes into the session, the top six were: Maldonado, Nasr, Grosjean, Button, Hulkenberg and Perez.

Maldonado had clocked a 1:37.962.

19 minutes into the session, Rosberg beat that with a 1:37.599.

21 minutes into the session, Hamilton went off the track at Turn 1.

The drivers were on the medium compound Pirellis at this stage.

24 minutes into the session, Vettel moved to the top with a 1:37.290. Then Raikkonen beat that by 0.317 seconds.

26 minutes into the session, Bottas moved into third with a 1:37.356.

29 minutes into the session, Kvyat spun into a gravel trap.

Midway through FP3 the top six were: Raikkonen, Vettel, Bottas, Rosberg, Massa and Maldonado.

With 29 minutes remaining in the session, the red lights came on because of Kvyat's stranded car.

With 25 minutes remaining in the session, the green lights came on.

With 23 minutes remaining in the session, Grosjean went off and on at Turn 1.

With 17 minutes remaining in the session, the top 10 were: Raikkonen, Vettel, Bottas, Rosberg, Nasr, Massa, Maldonado, Verstappen, Hamilton and Button.

With 13 minutes remaining in the session, only Nasr and Hulkenberg were on track, and both were on the soft compound tires.

With 11 minutes remaining in the session, Hulkenberg took over first with a 1:36.421. But now Rosberg was out on the softs. He set a 1:34.968.

With 8 minutes remaining in the session, Massa moved into second place with a 1:35.471.

With 7 minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton turned a 1:34.599. Vettel set a 1:34.668 for second place.

The top 10 at the end of FP3 were: Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Bottas, Massa, Maldonado, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and Nasr.