Alonso edges Ricciardo as Mercedes keep a low profile

2014 Singapore Grand Prix third practice

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Fernando Alonso kept the Mercedes drivers off the top of the times in the final practice session at Singapore.

And the dominant silver cars weren’t second-fastest either, as Daniel Ricciardo set the next best time. The Red Bull driver ended the session just five-hundredths of a second off Alonso after losing time behind Valtteri Bottas at the end of his lap.

Nico Rosberg was the first driver to begin his performance run on super-soft tyres, having ha to abort his run when Pastor Maldonado crashed yesterday. His 1’47.488 was beaten by Alonso shortly afterwards.

Lewis Hamilton couldn’t improve on his team mate’s time, ending up a quarter of a second off Rosberg’s best effort. He had a dramatic moment earlier in the session when he almost spun his Mercedes into the barriers at turn nine. The pair were then split by Jean-Eric Vergne and Sebastian Vettel.

The two Williams drivers showed better pace, both comfortably inside the top ten. They were joined by the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and – surprisingly – Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
114Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’47.29912
23Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’47.3500.05115
36Nico RosbergMercedes1’47.4880.18915
425Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’47.6930.39417
51Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’47.7110.41217
644Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’47.7380.43912
719Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’47.9090.61015
877Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’48.2050.90615
97Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’48.2260.92716
1021Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’48.4221.12320
1127Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’48.4501.15111
1220Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1’48.5771.2789
1322Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’48.5991.30016
1426Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’48.6371.33818
1511Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’49.0781.77915
1699Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’49.1151.81619
178Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’49.4852.18617
1813Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1’50.1492.85015
1917Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1’50.3763.07717
2010Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault1’50.9393.64017
214Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1’51.2213.92216
229Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1’51.5984.29917

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’49.0561’47.6231’47.299-0.32456
2Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’50.1221’47.7901’47.350-0.4464
3Nico RosbergMercedes1’49.2051’49.0751’47.488-1.58769
4Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’49.1781’47.4901’47.738+0.24860
5Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’50.5391’48.8001’47.693-1.10761
6Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’49.8741’48.0411’47.711-0.3349
7Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’51.9531’49.3611’47.909-1.45264
8Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’50.7831’48.0311’48.226+0.19564
9Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’52.1461’49.9711’48.205-1.76662
10Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1’51.2171’48.3581’48.577+0.21966
11Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’52.1711’49.2901’48.422-0.86872
12Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’50.9221’48.4351’48.599+0.16467
13Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’51.6041’48.7511’48.450-0.30165
14Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’50.9901’48.7701’48.637-0.13375
15Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’51.1311’48.6531’49.078+0.42568
16Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’52.9061’49.0621’49.485+0.42376
17Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’52.2371’49.1701’49.115-0.05575
18Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1’52.1251’49.1391’50.149+1.0153
19Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1’54.1131’50.6121’50.376-0.23656
20Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault1’54.6071’52.0751’50.939-1.13671
21Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1’55.1701’51.5581’51.221-0.33754
22Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1’54.4751’52.9361’51.598-1.33874

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
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26 comments on “Alonso edges Ricciardo as Mercedes keep a low profile”

  1. Looking like Rosberg is going to destroy Hamilton just like he did Lastyear, the man is probably the fastest driver out there alongside Ricciardo. Lewis needs to up his game or else he’ll be struggling to make in to the top 3.

    1. Hamilton isn’t very good at Singapore, but Rosberg is nowhere near Alonso or Ricciardo’s level of performance.

      1. Formula Indonesia (@)
        20th September 2014, 12:24

        his quick Lap was not really clean as he lost almost 1 second in sector 1 and sector 2, so Alonso and Ricciardo should be behind the Mercedes in the race

        1. It’s not clean because he’s getting pushed over the limit by the faster Rosberg who looked super smooth and controlled. I expect a wow lap from Nico today!

      2. It’s strange isn’t it but at Monaco and Singapore, two circuits where a driver really stands out Hamilton is just plain average.

        I’ve said it all along he’s not all he’s cracked up to be.

        1. Hamilton won the second race here, should have won the first but we all know what happened with nelson piquet jr and alonso. And he retired from the lead in 2013, so saying hes average here is being disingenuous.

        2. can say the same for Vettel as well, Ham and Rosb will both improve when they need to, so stop you whining about Ham give the guy a break he is only human in his own way.

          one driver that has impressed me is Vergne, hope he can stay that high in qualifying…

        3. lol that fast guy Ros was how much faster in Monaco? For someone who is the fastest he is not all that please do show your face though after qually. 6Wins to 4 whilst being classified 2 times less. Are you stupid lol?

          1. Yeah Rosberg is the quicker driver over 1 lap and blitzes Lewis around this circuit, I expect to not see you on here after quali.

        4. You got your answer I guess!!

      3. I feel Mercs were bit heavy on fuel and hence the reason they are not occupying top 2 spots because from FP2 to FP3 mercs just managed to improve by 2 thousands of a second?

        As for Riccardo’s level of performance in Singapore, I dont remember any remarkable performance from him on this track throughout his career and meanwhile Rosberg almost had victory in 2008 and he has been very fast here in his career.

    2. Yep. 1:47.488 vs 1:47.490 really wiping the floor with him.

      1. Yep. 1:47.488 vs 1 :47.738 yeah you’re right he is wiping the floor with him. ;)

    3. You’re going to look pretty foolish if Lewis gets pole lol.

      1. I hope he does as I’m a fan but Rosberg owns him around here, Rosberg pole by at least 3 tenths mark my word.

    4. Hahaha, you’re funny…
      Lewis has been faster than Nico all season.

      RIC is on VERNE’s level.
      The only he’s proving this year is that VET is NOT GREAT!

      1. You must have been watching a different season to me then, from Monaco onwards Rosberg has been the quicker driver.

    5. Looking like Rosberg is going to destroy Hamilton

      Well Lewis is on Pole!

    6. Well watching this conversation it looks like someone got some egg on the face, lol.

  2. Some big gaps to team mates in FP3. JEV, ALO and BIA win that competition.

    1. Also GUT did a very good job (0.7 faster than SUT)! JEV’s lap was amazing, just under 0.4 behind Fernando!
      Sauber should sign Bianchi for next season. He is young, fast and will also bring some money to the team.

      1. This could be the most important race of the year for Sauber, they absolutely need to finish 9th.

  3. ahh, what a shuffle… If Mercedes weren’t sandbagging, this could turn into a very exciting qualy

    let’s see who gained what with Options

    14 Fernando Alonso 1’47.299 1’49.614 -2,315
    2 3 Daniel Ricciardo 1’47.350 1’49.118 -1,768
    3 6 Nico Rosberg 1’47.488 1’48,575 -1.087
    4 25 Jean-Eric Vergne 1’47.693 1’50.570
    5 1 Sebastian Vettel 1’47.711 0.412 -2,877 !!!!
    6 44 Lewis Hamilton 1’47.738 1’49.337 -1.626
    7 19 Felipe Massa 1’47.909 1’50.091 -2.182
    8 77 Valtteri Bottas 1’48.205 1’49.654 -1.449
    9 7 Kimi Raikkonen 1’48.226 1’50.222 -1.996

    Was really impressed with JEV on options. What a time. Dani was a second behind. Shows how helpful it is to know this track. It’s the first time race for the rookies there, no? Explains Magnussen’s problems too

    So, Nico seemed to have been sandbagging. Sky comms said he looked like he wasn’t really pushing on his lap. Was it in regards to his Soft or SuperSoft run? Anyways, there is surely more performance in his car.

  4. Formula Indonesia (@)
    20th September 2014, 12:35

    STR vs RBR???? VET vs VER????

  5. It’s nice to see the predictions are a lot more mixed than usual. :)

  6. Sector time show both Mercs quickest in sector 3, I think they have a lil up there sleeve as does Williams

Comments are closed.