Lewis Hamilton headed the times in final practice for the Russian Grand Prix, setting the fastest ever lap of the Sochi Autodrom.
Hamilton’s final effort of 1’36.403 was seven-tenths of a second fastest than last year’s pole position time set by team mate Nico Rosberg. It came at the end of a frantic exchange of times between the two Mercedes drivers.
With the super-soft tyre good for more than one flying lap the Mercedes drivers traded quickest times on the rubber in the middle of the session, ending up 1.2 seconds clear of closest rival Kimi Raikkonen. Rosberg headed Hamilton by a tenth of a second after this initial exchange, Hamilton slipping up at turn 13 after setting the fastest first sector time, flat-spotting his front-left.
The tight right-hander where Carlos Sainz Jnr crashed heavily last year caught out several drivers beginning with Sergio Perez. The Force India driver ran out of room to complete a 180-degree turn back onto the circuit after taking to the run-off. Rosberg also took to the run-off there, as did Romain Grosjean.
Rosberg consistently had the upper hand in the final sector of the lap on their final runs, and headed for the pits while Hamilton was beginning his final lap. Hamilton was over two-tenths of a second up through the first two sectors, and though he lost most of it at the end of the lap he remained ahead by six hundredths of a second.
Sebastian Vettel made an early start to the session after his breakdown in second practice. The Ferrari driver was quickly onto a race simulation stint on the super-soft tyres. He returned for a late run which left him six-tenths of a second off Rosberg. Raikkonen, who repeatedly struggled at the final corner, was more than seven-tenths further back.
Jenson Button underlined McLaren’s potential by setting the eighth-fastest time again, splitting the two Toro Rosso drivers. Perez ended the session inside the top ten despite also going off at turn eight on another of his runs.
Neither Red Bull figured in the top ten at the end of the session. Daniil Kvyat locked up and ran wide at turn two when he was briefly held up by Hamilton on one lap.
Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’36.403
+0.068 Nico Rosberg – 1’36.471
+0.604 Sebastian Vettel – 1’37.007
+1.324 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’37.727
+1.515 Felipe Massa – 1’37.918
+1.582 Valtteri Bottas – 1’37.985
+1.730 Max Verstappen – 1’38.133
+2.062 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’38.465
+2.139 Sergio Perez – 1’38.542
+2.219 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’38.622
+2.230 Fernando Alonso – 1’38.633
+2.644 Daniil Kvyat – 1’39.047
+2.759 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’39.162
+2.827 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’39.230
+2.835 Kevin Magnussen – 1’39.238
+2.836 Romain Grosjean – 1’39.239
+3.186 Jolyon Palmer – 1’39.589
+3.196 Rio Haryanto – 1’39.599
+3.260 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’39.663
+3.337 Marcus Ericsson – 1’39.740
+3.495 Felipe Nasr – 1’39.898
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’38.849 | 1’37.583 | 1’36.403 | -1.18 | 78 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’38.127 | 1’38.450 | 1’36.471 | -1.656 | 91 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’39.175 | 1’38.235 | 1’37.007 | -1.228 | 57 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’39.332 | 1’38.793 | 1’37.727 | -1.066 | 67 |
| 5 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’39.365 | 1’39.289 | 1’37.918 | -1.371 | 68 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’39.802 | 1’39.185 | 1’37.985 | -1.2 | 92 |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’41.134 | 1’39.501 | 1’38.133 | -1.368 | 74 |
| 8 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’40.663 | 1’39.196 | 1’38.260 | -0.936 | 64 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’40.654 | 1’39.465 | 1’38.465 | -1 | 83 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’40.287 | 1’39.867 | 1’38.542 | -1.325 | 78 |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’39.650 | 1’39.084 | 1’38.622 | -0.462 | 81 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’40.771 | 1’39.400 | 1’38.633 | -0.767 | 60 |
| 13 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’40.218 | 1’39.193 | 1’39.047 | -0.146 | 73 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’39.795 | 1’39.162 | -0.633 | 47 | |
| 15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.238 | 1’40.508 | 1’39.230 | -1.278 | 62 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1’40.193 | 1’39.238 | -0.955 | 57 | |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.385 | 1’40.260 | 1’39.239 | -1.021 | 59 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’41.671 | 1’40.688 | 1’39.589 | -1.099 | 81 |
| 19 | Rio Haryanto | Manor-Mercedes | 1’42.687 | 1’41.080 | 1’39.599 | -1.481 | 65 |
| 20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor-Mercedes | 1’42.483 | 1’41.148 | 1’39.663 | -1.485 | 62 |
| 21 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.962 | 1’41.652 | 1’39.740 | -1.912 | 74 |
| 22 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.085 | 1’40.740 | 1’39.898 | -0.842 | 71 |
| 23 | Sergey Sirotkin | Renault | 1’40.898 | 24 | |||
| 24 | Alfonso Celis | Force India-Mercedes | 1’43.432 | 23 |
2016 Russian Grand Prix
- Another weak race shows Sochi is the new Valencia
- Magnussen beats grand slam Rosberg for Driver of the Weekend
- 2016 Russian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2016 Russian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Russian Grand Prix
bosyber (@bosyber)
30th April 2016, 11:10
What was the SS/Soft time difference? If it isn’t 1.5s or more, I guess Mercedes can easily do Q2 on softs if they feel that’s the best strategy – only Ferrari could get ahead of them in Q2, and they have 2s over Ricciardo.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th April 2016, 11:15
it seems the difference for most teams is about 1,1-1,3 seconds @bosyber, for Mercedes maybe a tad less, not sure.
On the other hand, I am not sure they would even want to, as the supersofts will last decently enough in the race and we could clearly see how they could get several fast laps out of them (Hamilton set that fastest lap on his 7th lap on those tyres I think), so I think we might just see many cars trying to be on track for several laps towards the end of every session.
In the race they can easily get a SSoft-Soft strategy with 1 stop working.
bosyber (@bosyber)
30th April 2016, 11:24
True enough I guess @bascb, might be best strategy to go as far with those SSofts as possible, perhaps wait for a SC, and only then switch to softs.
dfghj
30th April 2016, 12:26
@bosyber:
I think a possible SC might be the only threat to a straightforward one-stopper. In a normal race, the front-runners are probably going to target lap 30-35 for their single pit stop of the race (just like last year), whereas an early safety car could mix things up, enabling both an early switch to Softs, as well as an early change to fresh Supersofts for a two-stopper.
However, if there’s no SC, there won’t be too much strategic diversity. Ferrari might try to put pressure on Mercedes by undercutting them if they’re close enough by lap 20-25. But apart from that and the odd mid-fielder trying something different, there won’t be too much action going on tomorrow.
Frasier (@frasier)
30th April 2016, 11:21
I think that was the reason for yesterdays P1/P2 time discrepancies between Rosberg and Hamilton, they were testing various strategies for Q2 and hence the grid and the race. Also looking at supersoft tyre life with and without a hard Q2 lap in them. Normal service was resumed today with the two drivers battling no holds barred.
WilliamB (@william-brierty)
30th April 2016, 11:18
Great practice sesson – it was fantastic seeing quick lap after quick lap.
I do think Hamilton’s in control though – watching on Sky F1 Race Control Hamilton lost a good 1/4 of a second with a Raikkonen-esque moment in the final corner.
dfghj
30th April 2016, 12:29
He really did lose time, but can we really say he’s ‘in control’?
He’s gone off the track at least 8 times thus far (I’ve stopped counting), so he might as well end up on the losing side in quali, despite being unquestionably on the pace.