Practice 3 Report - Vettel On Top

Sebastian Vettel did not end Free Practice 3 on top of the timing screens, but he was the top story of the day after Red Bull announced he will be leaving the team at the end of the season. Quickest, naturally, were Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The latter, however, crashed with less than 10 minutes to go. But even without doing a lap on the softer compound tires Hamilton was still second fastest.

The ambient temperature at the start of the session was 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Centigrade.)

Pastor Maldonado was the first out on track in his Lotus. But it was Daniel Ricciardo, who will lead the Red Bull team alongside Daniil Kvyat next year now that Sebastian Vettel is leaving, who set the early pace with a lap of 1:35.885.

McLaren teammates Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button were second and third while Kvyat was fourth as the session hit the one-quarter mark.

17 minutes into the session, Jean-Eric Vergne, who will probably keep his job at Toro Rosso now that Kvyat has been promoted to Red Bull, clocked a 1:35.494 to take over the number one spot.

Ferrari teammates Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen had yet to set times. Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were also still in the pits 20 minutes into the session after doing just one installation lap.

23 minutes into the session, and Rosberg and Raikkonen were on track. Then Alonso joined them.

25 minutes into the session, Raikkonen posted a 1:35.995 to take over third place. Then Valtteri Bottas clocked a 1:35.380 in his Williams to take over the lead. Within a minute Bottas' teammate Felipe Massa beat that with a 1:35.165.

But then Rosberg took over first with a 1:34.516, and Alonso did a 1:34.837 for second.

28 minutes into the session, Hamilton was on a fast lap, and be crossed the line with a time of 1:34.210.

Midway through FP3 the top six were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso, Massa, Bottas and Vergne.

The drivers were using Pirelli's hard compound tires at this stage of FP3.

Vettel was back in the news, this time because his car was suffering major problems.

With 19 minutes remaining in the session, almost everybody except Max Chilton was in the garages preparing for their qualifying simulation runs on the medium compound tires.

With 13 minutes remaining in the session, the first drivers started their runs on the softer of the two Pirelli compounds.

Ricciardo was the first to set a time ‘‚  ® 1:35.086 after sliding off the track‘‚  ® with 10 minutes remaining in the session. That put him fourth.

With 9 minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton went off the track and into the tire barriers at Turn 1. That damaged the left front of his car.

Rosberg had improved to a 1:33.228. Alonso was third with a 1:34.439.

With 5 minutes remaining in the session, Alonso had another run on the mediums but did not improve his time.

With 3 minutes remaining in the session, Pastor Maldonado bounced off the track at Turn 1 but avoided the barriers.

Meanwhile Bottas had moved up to fourth with a time of 1:35.061. Then in the final seconds Massa grabbed fourth.

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