Rosberg heads Hamilton in final practice

The two Mercedes drivers took up their usual places on top of the times sheets as practice ended with a half-second margin over their Ferrari rivals.

Conditions remained very hot at the Sepang International Circuit. Track temperatures exceeded 60C, and on the slippery surface Nico Rosberg’s session-topping time of 1’39.690 was only a tenth of a second faster than the best seen yesterday, and over half a second slower than the he managed in the same session last year.

Hamilton failed to improve on his best time from yesterday on his quickest run and complained about braking problems in his Mercedes.

Kimi Raikkonen was third-quickest for Ferrari despite only completing nine laps as he suffered a left-rear puncture shortly after leaving the pits. He also had a run-in with former team mate Romain Grosjean, who Raikkonen accused of turning in on him when the Ferrari went to pass the Lotus.

The second Ferrari was next, Sebastian Vettel just a couple of hundredths off Raikkonen’s pace. The Williams pair were next, Felipe Massa edging Valterri Bottas by a similar margin.

Daniel Ricciardo did his run on the softer medium compound tyres early in the session and slipped down to seventh by the end but still within a second of the Mercedes. The two Toro Rossos also made it into the top ten.

Roberto Merhi had another spin in his car, this time at turn nine, but unlike yesterday he was able to keep going. He also set a time within 107% of the fastest lap seen in the session, giving the team some encouragement ahead of qualifying, but team mate Will Stevens did not after managing just six laps.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’39.690		13
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’39.873	0.183	10
3	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1’40.245	0.555	9
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’40.266	0.576	13
5	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1’40.391	0.701	14
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1’40.406	0.716	15
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1’40.590	0.900	19
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’40.601	0.911	19
9	33	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’40.989	1.299	18
10	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1’41.200	1.510	19
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Mercedes	1’41.206	1.516	16
12	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Mercedes	1’41.592	1.902	18
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-Renault	1’41.775	2.085	14
14	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1’41.804	2.114	15
15	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1’41.991	2.301	13
16	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1’42.099	2.409	14
17	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	1’42.117	2.427	18
18	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1’42.319	2.629	13
19	98	Roberto Merhi	Manor-Ferrari	1’46.647	6.957	9
20	28	Will Stevens	Manor-Ferrari	1’47.059	7.369	6

Combined practice times

Pos	Driver	Car	FP1	FP2	FP3	Fri/Sat diff	Total laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’40.124	1’40.218	1’39.690	-0.434	59
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1’39.790	1’39.873	+0.083	30
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1’40.497	1’40.163	1’40.245	+0.082	55
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’40.985	1’40.652	1’40.266	-0.386	55
5	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-Renault	1’42.055	1’40.346	1’41.775	+1.429	49
6	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1’42.103	1’40.560	1’40.391	-0.169	64
7	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1’41.882	1’40.450	1’40.406	-0.044	69
8	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1’41.787	1’41.799	1’40.590	-1.197	42
9	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’41.596	1’42.291	1’40.601	-0.995	76
10	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’41.803	1’41.220	1’40.989	-0.231	71
11	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1’42.064	1’41.261	1’41.200	-0.061	65
12	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Mercedes	1’41.543	1’42.948	1’41.206	-0.337	37
13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Mercedes	1’42.567	1’41.877	1’41.592	-0.285	52
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1’42.893	1’42.330	1’41.804	-0.526	56
15	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari		1’41.988	1’42.117	+0.129	48
16	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1’42.885	1’42.506	1’41.991	-0.515	58
17	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1’43.054	1’42.242	1’42.099	-0.143	53
18	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1’43.100	1’42.637	1’42.319	-0.318	56
19	Raffaele Marciello	Sauber-Ferrari	1’42.621				13
20	Will Stevens	Manor-Ferrari	1’46.686	1’45.704	1’47.059	+1.355	26
21	Roberto Merhi	Manor-Ferrari	1’47.683	1’47.229	1’46.647	-0.582	23

2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

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13 comments on “Rosberg heads Hamilton in final practice”

HK (@me4me)
28th March 2015, 7:12

All drivers in the top 3 teams really close together, should be interesting in qualifying. Mclaren seem to have improved alot, which is nice too. Kvyat on the other hand seem to have a terrible time in the Redbull, being nowhere compared to Ricciardo at the moment. Also I’m not expecting Merhi to finish the race on sunday. Much like last year in his practice sessions with Caterham, he seems to crash more often then not..
1. Anthony
  28th March 2015, 7:49
  
  Kvyat on the other hand seem to have a terrible time in the Redbull, being nowhere compared to Ricciardo at the moment.
  
  Ummm, Kvyat had the fastest practice time between the two?
  1. HK (@me4me)
    28th March 2015, 8:30
    
    One quick lap on friday does not make a race. All weekend he has been struggling. He is yet to find any consistency.
NickF12013 (@nickf12013)
28th March 2015, 7:18

Why are the times 0.5 sec slower than last year’s P3?
1. Aaron (@azzimus)
  28th March 2015, 7:28
  
  The track temps are much hotter this year making it a lot more slippery
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
28th March 2015, 7:18

Merc are either sandbagging (possible, but doesn’t make much sense) or they’ve done something and gone backwards.
msd
28th March 2015, 7:25

alonso is still getting the better of his team mate. up fernando .
1. Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
  28th March 2015, 8:06
  
  But isn’t that because there is a clause in his contract that ensures his teamates are slower than him even when they’re not?
  1. Kgn11
    28th March 2015, 8:12
    
    Haha… Brilliant! :-) :-)
    
    I guess he forgot that Jenson spent most of the session in the garage with his car getting fixed.
  2. evered7 (@evered7)
    28th March 2015, 8:19
    
    Clause? I think you are mistaking talent with something in the contract.
    1. Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
      28th March 2015, 8:42
      
      Could it be the other way around perhaps?
      1. msd
        28th March 2015, 9:23
        
        do you believe in that ?
      2. evered7 (@evered7)
        28th March 2015, 11:03
        
        Didn’t know his contract was available for public viewing. Please share it if you have seen it already. Will make things clear for us as well.