Nico Rosberg ended the final practice session of 2015 with the fastest time following two mistakes by his team mate.
Lewis Hamilton was almost three-tenths of a second off Rosberg’s time after running wide at turn six. The world champion spun at the same corner earlier in the session.
Nonetheless Mercedes wrapped up another session occupying the top two places in the times with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari their closest rival just four-hundredths of a second behind Hamilton.
Force India again showed strong pace with Sergio Perez up in fourth and his team mate in seventh place. The pair were separated by Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo, the latter the only Red Bull to set a time after an electrical fault was discovered on Daniil Kvyat’s car.
Fernando Alonso was frustrated with traffic and unable to replicate his top ten placing from yesterday. Team mate Jenson Button was much happier with his set-up, saying it felt like he had a “different car”, and was just kept out of the top ten by Carlos Sainz Jnr.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’41.856 | 20 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’42.137 | 0.281 | 20 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’42.185 | 0.329 | 20 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’42.448 | 0.592 | 18 |
| 5 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’42.627 | 0.771 | 18 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’42.726 | 0.870 | 15 |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’42.859 | 1.003 | 18 |
| 8 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’43.173 | 1.317 | 24 |
| 9 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’43.239 | 1.383 | 19 |
| 10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’43.429 | 1.573 | 22 |
| 11 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’43.508 | 1.652 | 15 |
| 12 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’43.680 | 1.824 | 18 |
| 13 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’43.718 | 1.862 | 24 |
| 14 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’43.826 | 1.970 | 19 |
| 15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’43.928 | 2.072 | 21 |
| 16 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’44.014 | 2.158 | 13 |
| 17 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’44.325 | 2.469 | 21 |
| 18 | 28 | Will Stevens | Manor-Ferrari | 1’47.283 | 5.427 | 16 |
| 19 | 98 | Roberto Merhi | Manor-Ferrari | 1’47.520 | 5.664 | 17 |
| 20 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 2 |
Third practice visual gaps
Nico Rosberg – 1’41.856
+0.281 Lewis Hamilton – 1’42.137
+0.329 Sebastian Vettel – 1’42.185
+0.592 Sergio Perez – 1’42.448
+0.771 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’42.627
+0.870 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’42.726
+1.003 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’42.859
+1.317 Felipe Massa – 1’43.173
+1.383 Valtteri Bottas – 1’43.239
+1.573 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’43.429
+1.824 Pastor Maldonado – 1’43.680
+1.862 Felipe Nasr – 1’43.718
+1.970 Max Verstappen – 1’43.826
+2.072 Romain Grosjean – 1’43.928
+2.158 Fernando Alonso – 1’44.014
+2.469 Marcus Ericsson – 1’44.325
+5.427 Will Stevens – 1’47.283
+5.664 Roberto Merhi – 1’47.520
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’43.895 | 1’41.983 | 1’41.856 | -0.127 | 89 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’43.754 | 1’42.121 | 1’42.137 | +0.016 | 78 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’44.742 | 1’42.717 | 1’42.185 | -0.532 | 78 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’44.934 | 1’42.610 | 1’42.448 | -0.162 | 68 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’44.500 | 1’42.849 | 1’42.627 | -0.222 | 81 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’44.893 | 1’42.647 | 1’42.726 | +0.079 | 76 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 1’44.702 | 1’42.798 | 59 | ||
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’44.751 | 1’42.928 | 1’42.859 | -0.069 | 75 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’45.865 | 1’42.955 | 1’44.014 | +1.059 | 64 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’45.433 | 1’43.506 | 1’43.173 | -0.333 | 75 |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’45.603 | 1’43.441 | 1’43.239 | -0.202 | 73 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’46.220 | 1’43.854 | 1’43.429 | -0.425 | 63 |
| 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’45.314 | 1’43.431 | 1’43.680 | +0.249 | 83 |
| 14 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’45.773 | 1’44.050 | 1’43.508 | -0.542 | 61 |
| 15 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’45.718 | 1’43.662 | 1’43.826 | +0.164 | 90 |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’46.115 | 1’44.116 | 1’43.718 | -0.398 | 80 |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’43.929 | 1’43.928 | -0.001 | 48 | |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’46.407 | 1’45.245 | 1’44.325 | -0.92 | 77 |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Manor-Ferrari | 1’48.836 | 1’46.450 | 1’47.283 | +0.833 | 70 |
| 20 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’46.501 | 8 |
Illusive (@illusive)
28th November 2015, 11:22
Lewis under pressure, wish Rosberg had shown this earlier, then we’d probably had a 3 way championship battle with Vettel having mathematical chance and close between the 2 mec drivers.
Stubborn Swiss (@stubbornswiss)
28th November 2015, 12:43
@illusive What exactly is Lewis under pressure of? It really tickles me when I see such statements – like “Rosberg back on top”. Back on top of what? As far as I can remember, the championship was decided quite a few races ago, with Lewis Hamilton being crowned World Drivers Champion (for the second consecutive time, and third total time I may add). Is it possible, just humanly possible that maybe Lewis is deliberately cooling off a bit? Maybe he’s just encouraging Nico a bit? Maybe he’s been “asked” to encourage Nico a bit? All just speculation I agree, but lets be honest, a lot of that is done in these comments. Thankfully this is the last race weekend of the season, and we’ll soon be back to – hopefully – some relevant racing again. Cheers, and enjoy the weekend.
Illusive (@illusive)
28th November 2015, 14:22
@stubbornswiss Don’t think Lewis is that kind of driver who backs off, he likes to win as evident from the last few races where in one race he questioned the race strategy and asked for a different one in Brazil. If Lewis is under pressure, then it doesn’t necessarily mean i am critical of him, he’s loosing to teammates consistently, so he’d want to end his season on a high with a win, which is kind of a pressure when your teammate is performing well. I don’t favour anyone of those, I just want good healthy competition and rivalry. Cheers.
Understeer (@abdelilah)
28th November 2015, 11:27
Lewis lost his mojo, this is what I retain from this session.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th November 2015, 11:42
its just practice. We have seen him miss apexes, get his braking wrong, complain about balance etc, in FP sessions only to dominate qualifying.
Not saying that he will do that again today, but given that he just has to cut out his own mistakes to be up there, its quite possible that he will be.
lockup (@)
28th November 2015, 11:43
It’s called Free what 3? ;)
ColdFly F1 (@)
28th November 2015, 11:46
Quite a few drivers slower than yesterday! Set-up or track conditions?
KaIIe (@kaiie)
28th November 2015, 12:07
Track conditions. FP3 is run when the sun is still shining; quali and the race will be in the twilight with much cooler track temperature.
The Skeptic
28th November 2015, 11:53
If you look across all of the practice sessions at Abu Dhabi – it seems to me that Lewis is quicker on the softs, and Nico is quicker on the super-softs. Nico just seems to be a little more consistent on the softer compound – possibly he doesn’t push quite as hard – but the end result is that Nico is faster at the current time.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
28th November 2015, 12:30
The red stripes on the Williams are worth about half a second.
Sumedh
28th November 2015, 13:00
I think Lewis no longer cares about F1 racing any more. He has emulated his hero. His job here is done.
RaceProUK (@)
28th November 2015, 13:55
He loses a couple of races, so that means he’s bored of F1? What are you smoking?
B (@)
28th November 2015, 18:14
HAM still has the 8 consecutive poles record of Senna to look forward to..and he also has to look forward to ROS not getting it before him..