Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of practice sessions in Baku after waiting until the final moments to produce the quickest time.
His team mate Nico Rosberg had led the way throughout much of practice but Hamilton’s final effort put him ahead by a quarter of a second and left Mercedes’ rivals over 1.1s behind.
They were led by Nico Hulkenberg, who headed a tightly-knit bunch of ten cars covered by seven-tenths of a second. However Force India suffered a setback at the end of the session as Sergio Perez damaged the right-rear of his VJM09 when he hit the barrier at turn 15.
Daniel Ricciardo, who had the same crash as Perez 24 hours earlier, put Red Bull ahead of Ferrari by one hundredth of a second. Sebastian Vettel was the quickest of the red cars as team mate Kimi Raikkonen lost some running after reporting his car was not accelerating out of corners properly.
Jenson Button was the quickest of the McLaren drivers in eighth place. He complained on the radio about being impeded by Hamilton during his lap.
After a strong showing on Friday it was a frustrating session for Williams. Valtteri Bottas was unable to participate after a loose drain cover damaged the sidepod of his FW38. Felipe Massa was also delayed after brushing the turn 15 barrier.
Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’44.352
+0.258 Nico Rosberg – 1’44.610
+1.188 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’45.540
+1.268 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’45.620
+1.278 Sebastian Vettel – 1’45.630
+1.383 Sergio Perez – 1’45.735
+1.549 Max Verstappen – 1’45.901
+1.629 Daniil Kvyat – 1’45.981
+1.672 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’46.024
+1.779 Fernando Alonso – 1’46.131
+1.838 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’46.190
+2.009 Romain Grosjean – 1’46.361
+2.158 Felipe Massa – 1’46.510
+2.318 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’46.670
+2.672 Kevin Magnussen – 1’47.024
+2.748 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’47.100
+2.806 Jolyon Palmer – 1’47.158
+2.976 Marcus Ericsson – 1’47.328
+3.027 Felipe Nasr – 1’47.379
+3.204 Rio Haryanto – 1’47.556
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’44.223 | 1’44.223 | 1’44.352 | +0.129 | 66 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’44.913 | 1’44.913 | 1’44.610 | -0.303 | 63 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’45.336 | 1’45.336 | 1’45.735 | +0.399 | 70 |
| 4 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’45.920 | 1’45.920 | 1’45.540 | -0.38 | 70 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’47.741 | 1’46.293 | 1’45.620 | -0.673 | 61 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’46.219 | 1’46.219 | 1’45.630 | -0.589 | 75 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’45.764 | 1’45.764 | 50 | ||
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’46.777 | 1’46.068 | 1’45.901 | -0.167 | 66 |
| 9 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’46.234 | 1’46.234 | 1’45.954 | -0.28 | 62 |
| 10 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’46.744 | 1’46.744 | 1’45.981 | -0.763 | 72 |
| 11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’46.699 | 1’46.694 | 1’46.024 | -0.67 | 66 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’46.027 | 1’46.027 | 1’46.190 | +0.163 | 68 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’46.859 | 1’46.498 | 1’46.131 | -0.367 | 53 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’46.681 | 1’46.681 | 1’46.361 | -0.32 | 64 |
| 15 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’47.060 | 1’47.060 | 1’46.510 | -0.55 | 62 |
| 16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas-Ferrari | 1’46.830 | 1’46.830 | 1’46.670 | -0.16 | 62 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1’47.329 | 1’47.329 | 1’47.024 | -0.305 | 72 |
| 18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor-Mercedes | 1’48.018 | 1’48.018 | 1’47.100 | -0.918 | 68 |
| 19 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’47.794 | 1’47.794 | 1’47.158 | -0.636 | 69 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’47.772 | 1’47.328 | -0.444 | 39 | |
| 21 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’48.081 | 1’48.081 | 1’47.379 | -0.702 | 71 |
| 22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor-Mercedes | 1’47.487 | 1’47.487 | 1’47.556 | +0.069 | 63 |
2016 European Grand Prix
- Podium earns Perez Driver of the Weekend win
- Baku’s first race ranked among the worst since 2008
- 2016 European Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2016 European Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 European Grand Prix
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
18th June 2016, 12:08
Any news on whether Perez and Bottas will be able to make qualifying? I missed the session unfortunately, and I still haven’t decided on my predictions ;)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th June 2016, 12:09
Regarding Button accusing Hamilton of impeding, remember Hamilton is one reprimand away from getting a ten-place grid penalty, and reprimands have been issued before for drivers who impede rivals during practice:
https://www.racefans.net/statistics/2014-f1-statistics/2014-penalties-index/
However there are probably worse places he could get such a penalty than this track, where Mercedes are probably going to find it very easy to overtake on the run from turn 16. And of course the stewards may decide it was a serious error and not give him a reprimand.
Bob Steele (@bobwhosaysni)
18th June 2016, 12:16
When did Hamilton receive the earliest reprimands? Is it correct that they only last 12 months before being removed or have I got that wrong?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th June 2016, 12:20
@bobwhosaysni Actually they are only counted during the season they are accrued (unlike penalty points which expire after 12 months). See here for Hamilton’s previous reprimands:
https://www.racefans.net/2016-f1-season/statistics/penalties-index/
kotrba
18th June 2016, 12:43
This year no one has received reprimand for impending in Free Practices, and I think we have seen a quite a few of them. I dont know where was Button impended, because director showed just the turn 5/6 but I cant see he would get a reprimand for that.
Billys (@bilarxos)
18th June 2016, 12:22
keith , the FP1 & FP2 have almost the same time on the table !
Stefano Bondani
18th June 2016, 12:33
@keithcollantine