Lewis Hamilton led the way in the final practice session at Spa-Francorchamps, ending the hour almost half a second faster than team mate Nico Rosberg.
The Mercedes drivers headed the times at the end of an uneventful session, with their closest rivals Ferrari some six-tenths of a second adrift.
The two Red Bull drivers were separated by five five-hundredths of a second and, unlike most of their rivals, completed their qualifying simulation on the soft tyres much earlier in the session. Ricciardo’s best effort left him almost a second down on Hamilton.
Force India were the highest Mercedes customer team, Sergio Perez a strong fifth and Nico Hulkenberg eighth. The Williams pair completed the top ten.
Lotus left it until the final seconds to set their flying runs, and Romain Grosjean found himself delayed in traffic. He caught Raikkonen at the exit of the Curve Paul Frere and almost lost control of his car as he dodged around the Ferrari.
“Raikkonen is dangerous,” a furious Grosjean complained on the radio afterwards, “it’s very dangerous what he did to me – very, very dangerous”.
Grosjean ended the session 16th ahead of Jenson Button’s McLaren – Fernando Alonso failed to a set a time due to an exhaust problem – and the two Manors.
Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’48.984
+0.498 Nico Rosberg – 1’49.482
+0.645 Sebastian Vettel – 1’49.629
+0.880 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’49.864
+0.882 Sergio Perez – 1’49.866
+0.946 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’49.930
+0.996 Daniil Kvyat – 1’49.980
+1.016 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’50.000
+1.195 Valtteri Bottas – 1’50.179
+1.463 Felipe Massa – 1’50.447
+1.568 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’50.552
+1.601 Pastor Maldonado – 1’50.585
+1.615 Max Verstappen – 1’50.599
+1.706 Felipe Nasr – 1’50.690
+2.070 Marcus Ericsson – 1’51.054
+2.203 Romain Grosjean – 1’51.187
+5.278 Will Stevens – 1’54.262
+5.297 Roberto Merhi – 1’54.281
Complete practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’51.324 | 1’49.687 | 1’48.984 | -0.703 | 62 |
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’51.082 | 1’49.385 | 1’49.482 | +0.097 | 57 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’51.866 | 1’50.940 | 1’49.629 | -1.311 | 61 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’51.478 | 1’50.461 | 1’49.864 | -0.597 | 65 |
5 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’52.423 | 1’50.971 | 1’49.866 | -1.105 | 56 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’51.373 | 1’50.136 | 1’49.930 | -0.206 | 53 |
7 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 1’51.960 | 1’50.399 | 1’49.980 | -0.419 | 55 |
8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’52.614 | 1’50.461 | 1’50.000 | -0.461 | 56 |
9 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’52.511 | 1’51.250 | 1’50.179 | -1.071 | 59 |
10 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’52.653 | 1’51.588 | 1’50.447 | -1.141 | 63 |
11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’50.489 | 1’51.187 | +0.698 | 39 | |
12 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’52.421 | 1’51.037 | 1’50.552 | -0.485 | 70 |
13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’52.539 | 1’51.317 | 1’50.585 | -0.732 | 48 |
14 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’52.158 | 1’51.117 | 1’50.599 | -0.518 | 73 |
15 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’52.640 | 1’50.928 | 1’50.690 | -0.238 | 57 |
16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’53.426 | 1’50.709 | 1’51.054 | +0.345 | 54 |
17 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’54.225 | 1’51.854 | 1’51.981 | +0.127 | 42 |
18 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’53.502 | 1’52.570 | 30 | ||
19 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’53.799 | 23 | |||
20 | Will Stevens | Manor-Ferrari | 1’55.501 | 1’54.065 | 1’54.262 | +0.197 | 49 |
21 | Roberto Merhi | Manor-Ferrari | 1’56.086 | 1’54.253 | 1’54.281 | +0.028 | 40 |
2015 Belgian Grand Prix
- “If drivers respect track limits there’s no problem” – Spa responds to Pirelli over ‘debris’
- Podium earns Grosjean Driver of the Weekend win
- Track limits and DRS raise ire at Spa
- Top ten pictures from the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix
- 2015 Belgian Grand Prix team radio transcript
SotF1Rules (@sotiris07)
22nd August 2015, 11:11
I missed the third practice… why alonso didn’t compete ? And why button was so slow ? Did he has any problems ?
kpcart
22nd August 2015, 11:13
Yes, the problem is honda
OEL F1 (@oel-f1)
22nd August 2015, 11:14
The answer for all your three questions: Honda.
pastaman (@)
22nd August 2015, 12:41
It says right in the article…
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
22nd August 2015, 11:15
As quick as the Ferraris …
Illusive (@illusive)
22nd August 2015, 11:23
Thats what she said.
OOliver
22nd August 2015, 12:06
In the Manor
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd August 2015, 11:18
Interesting to note very modest gains so far this year. Hamilton’s best is just 0.2s up on the quickest from practice last year. Qualifying was wet.
Nicolette Nicol (@nico21)
22nd August 2015, 11:43
Which practice ?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd August 2015, 13:02
@nico21 All three.
thegamer23
22nd August 2015, 11:51
Hotter track surface doesn’t do good to the lap times.
GRLap
22nd August 2015, 11:37
The “visual gaps” graph explains why Bernie views Manor as superfluous to the show and not worth the allocation from the revenue fund.
iAltair (@)
22nd August 2015, 11:48
Redbull seems to be the 3rd fastest car now. Somewhat, they have surpassed the Williams.