Ferrari hit the top in final practice

2016 Bahrain Grand Prix third practice

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Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two in final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, relegating the two Mercedes drivers to third and fourth.

Kimi Raikkonen was the first of the pair to move ahead of the W07s before Vettel edged his time by just four hundredths of a second.

Vettel’s best effort was six-tenths of a second off the quickest time seen so far this weekend, set by Nico Rosberg yesterday. But on a hot track in final practice – around 10C warmer than yesterday – the red cars led the way.

The two Haas drivers impressed in the final hour of running as both Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez made it well into the top ten. Grosjean was sixth behind Valtteri Bottas, who continued to run the original front wing on his Williams as Felipe Massa used the team’s new design.

Daniel Ricciardo completed the top ten ahead of Marcus Ericsson, who was a promising 11th for Sauber. Having been third yesterday, Jenson Button slipped to 13th in his McLaren. Team mate Stoffel Vandoorne was just four hundredths of a second slower despite spending the first part of the session stuck in the pits.

Jolyon Palmer had a drama at the end of the session when his left-rear tyre went flat on the approach to turn ten, sending him off the track. He ended up 20th ahead of the two Manors.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’31.683 22
2 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’31.723 0.040 13
3 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’32.104 0.421 18
4 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’32.160 0.477 14
5 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’32.675 0.992 18
6 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’33.082 1.399 14
7 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’33.113 1.430 10
8 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1’33.337 1.654 14
9 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’33.363 1.680 18
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’33.519 1.836 20
11 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’33.569 1.886 16
12 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1’33.617 1.934 9
13 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1’33.704 2.021 12
14 47 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda 1’33.744 2.061 11
15 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’33.778 2.095 20
16 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’34.003 2.320 20
17 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1’34.013 2.330 15
18 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’34.128 2.445 16
19 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’34.281 2.598 15
20 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1’34.424 2.741 9
21 88 Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes 1’35.546 3.863 15
22 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1’35.724 4.041 16

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Third practice visual gaps

Sebastian Vettel – 1’31.683

+0.040 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’31.723

+0.421 Nico Rosberg – 1’32.104

+0.477 Lewis Hamilton – 1’32.160

+0.992 Valtteri Bottas – 1’32.675

+1.399 Romain Grosjean – 1’33.082

+1.430 Daniil Kvyat – 1’33.113

+1.654 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’33.337

+1.680 Felipe Massa – 1’33.363

+1.836 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’33.519

+1.886 Marcus Ericsson – 1’33.569

+1.934 Kevin Magnussen – 1’33.617

+2.021 Jenson Button – 1’33.704

+2.061 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’33.744

+2.095 Max Verstappen – 1’33.778

+2.320 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’34.003

+2.330 Felipe Nasr – 1’34.013

+2.445 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’34.128

+2.598 Sergio Perez – 1’34.281

+2.741 Jolyon Palmer – 1’34.424

+3.863 Rio Haryanto – 1’35.546

+4.041 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’35.724

Complete practice times

Pos Driver Car FP1 FP2 FP3 Fri/Sat diff Total laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’32.294 1’31.001 1’32.104 +1.103 80
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’32.799 1’31.242 1’32.160 +0.918 70
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’35.073 1’32.650 1’31.683 -0.967 62
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’34.128 1’32.452 1’31.723 -0.729 67
5 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1’35.440 1’32.281 1’33.704 +1.423 72
6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’34.860 1’32.406 1’33.778 +1.372 70
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’35.174 1’32.792 1’32.675 -0.117 78
8 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’34.541 1’32.703 1’33.113 +0.41 74
9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’34.461 1’32.870 1’33.519 +0.649 70
10 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’35.006 1’32.873 1’33.363 +0.49 73
11 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda 1’36.392 1’32.999 1’33.744 +0.745 66
12 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’35.000 1’33.384 1’33.082 -0.302 55
13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1’35.309 1’33.129 1’33.337 +0.208 64
14 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’34.793 1’33.177 1’34.003 +0.826 77
15 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’33.406 1’34.281 +0.875 50
16 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1’35.490 1’33.447 1’33.617 +0.17 70
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’35.728 1’34.224 1’33.569 -0.655 77
18 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’34.601 1’33.570 1’34.128 +0.558 81
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1’36.939 1’33.640 1’34.424 +0.784 72
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1’36.371 1’33.953 1’35.724 +1.771 63
21 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1’36.719 1’34.477 1’34.013 -0.464 73
22 Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes 1’37.714 1’34.562 1’35.546 +0.984 75
23 Alfonso Celis Force India-Mercedes 1’37.287 23

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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...

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15 comments on “Ferrari hit the top in final practice”

  1. SuperDuperSofts
    2nd April 2016, 14:14

    Looking interesting. Qualifying will be exciting, let’s see if it doesn’t suck! :D

  2. Very impressed with Haas. I wonder if they have the same warm track advantage as Ferarri or if they really are ahead of the midfield. Either way, this is great. I hope we see a Williams or Red Bull ‘semi-customer’ team in a year or 2. Or both.

    1. what, like Toro Rosso?

    2. Sauber or Torro Rosso may become Alfa Romeo.

      1. If that means a more competitive field, I am all for it. Right now Manor and Sauber doing a disservice to the Merc/Ferrari engines.

  3. Don’t know what to make of this. Robert posted a 1:31.001 yesterday so obviously Mercedes have another second in their bag, at the very least. Question is how much do Ferrari have?

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      2nd April 2016, 15:58

      @ssm0304 Robert Kubica?

      1. @omarr-pepper Autocorrect! I meant Rosberg.

  4. ColdFly F1 (@)
    2nd April 2016, 14:27

    @scalextric, certainly looks good. But ahead of midfield all depends on how we define midfield nowadays.
    I’d say that (besides MER & FER) WIL, RBR, STR, and even FI are still ahead of them. And ButLaren was very impressive yesterday and should still be ahead tomorrow.

  5. @coldfly Probably true in general. Time will tell. I was simply looking at the visual gaps plot above. That, plus P6 in Aus, puts them in contention for some recognition.

    1. A very sensible approach to entering F1 and I really hope they make a success of this and beat teams that have been around for a while as it shows others what can be done and maybe more teams enter. The top teams that help them will not oppose it as they get a revenue stream from this. It could form a new type of garagisti. In the old days they had the Ford DFV now they get big team help, of course unlike the past there is not a way they could win but it is better than nothing and nice to have a grid of healthy teams.

      1. I think the Ford DFV was crucial to the garagistas being competetive. Obtaining a current-year Ferrari or Mercedes engine now may be a problem. Maybe Renault or Honda will catch up in a year or two and also be an option. But this is streets ahead of where HRT, Lotus/Caterham and Virgin/Marussia ever were.

      2. The current paying structure makes it hard to have more than 10 teams since only the first 10 get money.
        If Manor stays 11th the next two years it will stop existing.
        So no matter how good the Haas model is, in the end F1 itself does not promote the idea of more teams.

  6. Expect Mercedes to be sandbagging.
    Ferrari gained 7 tenths since FP2, but the Mercs dropped by 1.5 seconds – they only gained 1 tenth in comparison to FP1, which was held under similar daylight conditions (albeit cooler).
    I’m pretty sure they didn’t show their hand in FP3, because they are pretty confident that they’ll be untouchable in quali, so they focussed on more race-relevant simulations. I fully expect them to stun the competition when it counts.

  7. digitalrurouni
    2nd April 2016, 16:16

    So it still seems that Ferrari have their traditional advantages of being softer on tire wear and also being able to extract more performance out of said tires when the temps are hot. Is that a correct statement? I think FP3 is held more during the day time and not in the cooler evenings like FP4 and Qualifying and the race, right? I wonder if their kindness to tires = less friction and less heat equals to it’s more difficult for them to switch the tires on compared to Mercedes. But that then turns in to an advantage on an already hot track. Either way is it just me or is this season already a bit more exciting than last year? I think Rosberg has the advantage over Lewis in terms of getting the most out of the material given to both.

Comments are closed.