Rosberg quickest as Suzuka bites Hamilton

2014 Japanese Grand Prix third practice

Posted on

| Written by

Nico Rosberg sustained Mercedes’ run of quickest times in practice at Suzuka, but his team mate was caught out by the unforgiving Japanese track.

Lewis Hamilton had just begun his first flying run on the softer medium tyres when he ran wide in the first corner. The Mercedes driver skidded across the gravel trap and crunched the front-left corner of his car against a barrier, leaving his team with a repair job before the crucial qualifying session.

Before the end of the session both Lotus drivers committed almost identical mistakes at the same corner. But the pair managed to stop their cars just short of the barrier and return to the track.

Despite Hamilton’s problems the two Mercedes drivers again posted the fastest times of the session. They were followed by Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and Valtteri Bottas, who again demonstrated strong pace in his Williams.

Daniel Ricciardo avoided a repeat of his Friday crash and ended the session fifth-fastest. But this time it was his team mate in trouble – and not for the first time this year the cause was his power unit.

Following the shock news of his impending departure from Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel’s managed only two laps before heading to the garage, race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin telling him a software fix had failed to solve the glitch.

Kimi Raikkonen was also halted by problems on his Ferrari, and ended the session three places ahead of Vettel in 12th.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’33.228 14
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’34.210 0.982 10
3 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’34.439 1.211 12
4 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’34.564 1.336 12
5 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’35.061 1.833 16
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1’35.086 1.858 13
7 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1’35.251 2.023 16
8 25 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1’35.494 2.266 8
9 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1’35.538 2.310 17
10 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’35.549 2.321 16
11 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’35.732 2.504 15
12 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’35.995 2.767 5
13 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’36.365 3.137 8
14 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1’36.407 3.179 22
15 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’36.460 3.232 6
16 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1’36.558 3.330 19
17 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1’36.617 3.389 12
18 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1’36.626 3.398 20
19 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1’37.367 4.139 12
20 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1’37.883 4.655 17
21 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1’38.102 4.874 15
22 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1’38.784 5.556 12

Combined practice times

Pos Driver Car FP1 FP2 FP3 Fri/Sat diff Total laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’35.461 1’35.318 1’33.228 -2.09 68
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’35.612 1’35.078 1’34.210 -0.868 64
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’36.037 1’36.637 1’34.439 -1.598 57
4 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’38.012 1’37.700 1’34.564 -3.136 52
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’36.576 1’36.279 1’35.061 -1.218 65
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1’37.466 1’37.186 1’35.086 -2.1 43
7 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1’37.327 1’36.714 1’35.251 -1.463 71
8 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1’37.219 1’35.494 -1.725 27
9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1’37.714 1’36.943 1’35.538 -1.405 70
10 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’37.649 1’36.409 1’35.549 -0.86 68
11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’38.582 1’37.504 1’35.732 -1.772 40
12 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’37.187 1’36.529 1’35.995 -0.534 43
13 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’38.324 1’37.786 1’36.365 -1.421 26
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1’39.318 1’38.365 1’36.407 -1.958 49
15 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’37.686 1’36.436 1’36.460 +0.024 56
16 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1’38.851 1’37.563 1’36.558 -1.005 71
17 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1’39.097 1’37.798 1’36.617 -1.181 65
18 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1’39.046 1’38.010 1’36.626 -1.384 64
19 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1’40.031 1’39.069 1’37.367 -1.702 52
20 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1’41.757 1’39.333 1’37.883 -1.45 56
21 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1’41.580 1’39.306 1’38.102 -1.204 45
22 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1’38.157 22
23 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1’42.760 1’38.784 -3.976 15
24 Roberto Merhi Caterham-Renault 1’41.472 24

2014 Japanese Grand Prix

Browse all 2014 Japanese Grand Prix articles

2014 F1 practice sessions

    Browse all 2014 F1 practice results

    Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

    Author information

    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...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    11 comments on “Rosberg quickest as Suzuka bites Hamilton”

    1. Profile Photo

      juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
      4th October 2014, 4:16

      And Massa. But Bottas was only half a second back.

    2. Profile Photo

      Formula-I (@)
      4th October 2014, 4:22

      Did Hamilton had a technical problem???

      1. Profile Photo

        Mayank (@mjf1fan)
        4th October 2014, 4:26

        Nope he locked all four wheels but couldn’t stop the car. He went into that corner with too much speed.

        But the difference between him and roaberg was huge in Hard tyres. Expecting him to win the race.

        1. Michael C
          4th October 2014, 4:38

          Don’t think it’ll be that simple. Rosberg made an error in S1 on his fastest lap on hard tyres.

      2. Profile Photo

        juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
        4th October 2014, 4:26

        Yes – problem with the nut holding the steering wheel ;)

        He ran off the road all by himself (but no doubt will still get lots of votes for DOTW).

        1. Michael C
          4th October 2014, 4:35

          Aww… diddums :)

        2. Profile Photo

          Breno (@austus)
          4th October 2014, 4:55

          Everyone knows the amount of votes a driver gets for DOTW is directly proportional to the number of broadcast passes – laps completed radio.

        3. Profile Photo

          Formula-I (@)
          4th October 2014, 5:22

          Over DOTW i never vote for Lewis since I made my account
          Canada – Rosberg
          Austria – Bottas
          Great Britain – Button
          Germany – Bottas
          Hungary – Vergne
          Belgium – Ricciardo
          Italy – Maldonado
          Singapore – Massa

    3. Michael C
      4th October 2014, 4:28

      To find an invisible limit, you must go past it. That’s the excuse I use when I crash :)

    4. Profile Photo

      George (@george)
      4th October 2014, 4:36

      Surprisingly big jump in lap time from FP2 to FP3, glad I stayed up so I could change my pole prediction time :P

      1. Profile Photo

        Ivan B (@njoydesign)
        4th October 2014, 5:11

        Friday engines are getting really worn? ))

    Comments are closed.