Ricciardo quickest as Mercedes sit out wet session

2014 Chinese Grand Prix third practice

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A Mercedes car was not fastest at the end of the final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix – as neither of their drivers set a time.

Damp conditions at the Shanghai International Circuit led Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to stay in their garages for most of the final hour of running, neither driving choosing to set a lap.

Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen also preferred to save as much life in their limited supply of intermediate tyres ahead of a qualifying session which is also expected to be wet.

Daniel Ricciardo headed the times but completed just five laps, which was typical of most of his rivals.

One of few drivers to break into double figures was Pastor Maldonado. He hit trouble for the third session in a row but this time the problems were down to his car – he was instructed to stop with an unspecified problem during the session.

Sebastian Vettel also had some problems with his car, which developed a KERS glitch towards the end of the session.

Felipe Massa was second-fastest for Williams ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
13Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’53.9585
219Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’54.4920.5345
38Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’54.5140.5564
427Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’55.0321.0746
57Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’55.0621.1044
613Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1’55.2281.27012
726Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’55.2351.2777
877Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’55.3811.4235
922Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’55.6731.7154
1011Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’56.0192.0616
111Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’56.2332.2758
1225Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’56.3802.4229
1399Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’56.7602.8028
144Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1’56.8412.88313
1521Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’57.4683.5109
1610Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault1’57.8123.85412
1717Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1’57.9764.01814
189Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1’59.5075.5496
196Nico RosbergMercedes4
2020Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes3
2114Fernando AlonsoFerrari1
2244Lewis HamiltonMercedes3

Combined session times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’41.5601’38.31537
2Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’39.7831’38.45649
3Nico RosbergMercedes1’40.1811’38.72650
4Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’40.7721’38.8111’53.958+15.14758
5Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’41.6291’39.0151’56.233+17.21858
6Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’41.6991’39.1181’54.492+15.37444
7Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’39.2831’55.062+15.77930
8Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’40.9701’39.4911’55.673+16.18256
9Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’42.0901’39.5371’54.514+14.97764
10Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’41.9771’39.6481’55.235+15.58756
11Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’41.1751’39.7361’55.032+15.29652
12Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1’41.3661’39.74452
13Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’41.5051’39.7591’56.380+16.62163
14Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’39.8301’55.381+15.55130
15Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’42.7331’40.1241’56.019+15.89551
16Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’44.1621’40.3591’57.468+17.10958
17Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’40.3951’56.760+16.36538
18Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1’43.7311’40.4551’55.228+14.77346
19Felipe NasrWilliams-Mercedes1’42.26513
20Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1’44.2701’42.3271’57.976+15.64948
21Giedo van der GardeSauber-Ferrari1’42.61516
22Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1’44.7821’43.4731’56.841+13.36863
23Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault1’44.0381’43.5301’57.812+14.28260
24Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1’44.8351’43.6791’59.507+15.82860

Image © Red Bull/Getty

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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6 comments on “Ricciardo quickest as Mercedes sit out wet session”

  1. Is it just me or does Chilton seem to be not too bad in the wet? He had the lowest differential between dry and wet fastest lap.

  2. It’s cold here! Hope the quali is good

  3. Do you think Ricciardo could take pole from Mercedes given he did more running time in the wet?

    1. In sincerely doubt five laps in the wet will close the gap to Mercedes.

    2. Don’t know, but he’s showing everybody who’s the 4-time real champ, no ??! :D Mercedes saved some rubber too, so they should have the upper-hand on this matter too. At least that’s what THEY say: fresh rubber = better performance.

      1. @corrado-dub

        I agree, Daniel being 1.055 sec faster than Vettel in qualy in Malaysia was really impressive!

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