Rosberg heads tight final practice, Hamilton under investigation

2016 German Grand Prix third practice

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Less than a tenth of a second covered the top three drivers in the final practice session at the Hockenheimring, with Nico Rosberg on top once again.

The Mercedes driver made it three-in-a-row despite not setting a final flying effort at the end of the session. Lewis Hamilton also did not make a bid to improve his time, allowing their rivals to get closer.

Daniel Ricciardo took best advantage, getting within a tenth of a second of the quickest Mercedes with a lap which included the fastest time through the middle sector.

The Ferraris were next, led by Kimi Raikkonen. Sebastian Vettel went wide at turn ten during his final run, damaging his front wing and suspecting he’d damaged the floor of his car too.

The Williams pair took seventh and eighth place ahead of Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg, the latter making it three out of four German drivers in the top ten at home.

Romain Grosjean endured another trying session in the Haas. He went off at the exit of turn four at one stage, then pitted with a gearbox problem which turned out to need a replacement.

He was also forced to stop in the pits when Hamilton emerged from his garage in front of him. The stewards are investigating a possible unsafe release of the Mercedes.

Drivers were given new guidance on running wide at turn one ahead of the final practice session. A note sent to teams by race director Charlie Whiting stated: “Based upon our observations of the way in which the new kerb on the exit of turn 12 is used, and the comments made in the meeting yesterday evening, we feel that the usable track limit at turn one should be the outer edge of the kerb, i.e. the edge furthest from the track.”

“The performance of any driver going beyond this point, with any part of the car, will be examined in order to establish whether or not an advantage was gained by exceeding this limit.”

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
16Nico RosbergMercedes1’15.73816
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’15.7950.05719
33Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’15.8370.09913
47Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’15.9020.16416
55Sebastian VettelFerrari1’16.1040.36620
633Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’16.1820.44423
777Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’16.4000.66228
819Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’16.6300.89226
914Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’16.9161.17811
1027Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’16.9721.23416
1155Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’17.0281.29020
1211Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’17.0661.32810
1321Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’17.1601.42217
1426Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Ferrari1’17.2271.48919
1520Kevin MagnussenRenault1’17.3511.6139
1630Jolyon PalmerRenault1’17.4731.73523
179Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’17.6851.94719
1812Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’18.0572.31924
1922Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’18.0932.3556
2094Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’18.2702.53224
2188Rio HaryantoManor-Mercedes1’18.2722.53418
228Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’25.1609.4224

Third practice visual gaps

Nico Rosberg – 1’15.738

+0.057 Lewis Hamilton – 1’15.795

+0.099 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’15.837

+0.164 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’15.902

+0.366 Sebastian Vettel – 1’16.104

+0.444 Max Verstappen – 1’16.182

+0.662 Valtteri Bottas – 1’16.400

+0.892 Felipe Massa – 1’16.630

+1.178 Fernando Alonso – 1’16.916

+1.234 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’16.972

+1.290 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’17.028

+1.328 Sergio Perez – 1’17.066

+1.422 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’17.160

+1.489 Daniil Kvyat – 1’17.227

+1.613 Kevin Magnussen – 1’17.351

+1.735 Jolyon Palmer – 1’17.473

+1.947 Marcus Ericsson – 1’17.685

+2.319 Felipe Nasr – 1’18.057

+2.355 Jenson Button – 1’18.093

+2.532 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’18.270

+2.534 Rio Haryanto – 1’18.272

+9.422 Romain Grosjean – 1’25.160

Combined times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Nico RosbergMercedes1’15.5171’15.6141’15.738+0.22191
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’15.8431’16.0081’15.795-0.04885
3Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’17.0891’16.4901’15.837-0.65381
4Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’16.8521’16.5121’15.902-0.6184
5Sebastian VettelFerrari1’16.6671’16.2081’16.104-0.10488
6Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’16.9271’16.4561’16.182-0.27492
7Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’18.2101’17.4251’16.400-1.025109
8Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’18.3221’17.6861’16.630-1.05699
9Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’18.5911’16.7811’16.972+0.19194
10Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’17.1831’17.2251’16.916-0.26750
11Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’18.0441’17.3421’17.028-0.31474
12Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’18.6281’17.1481’17.066-0.08283
13Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’17.6121’17.0871’18.093+1.00637
14Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’18.0051’17.160-0.84559
15Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Ferrari1’18.0081’17.3671’17.227-0.1481
16Kevin MagnussenRenault1’18.9331’18.0561’17.351-0.70590
17Jolyon PalmerRenault1’18.3131’17.473-0.8470
18Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’18.5891’17.6021’25.160+7.55837
19Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’18.1981’18.1301’17.685-0.44575
20Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’18.9611’19.2951’18.057-0.90487
21Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’19.9751’18.1931’18.270+0.07799
22Rio HaryantoManor-Mercedes1’19.1671’18.5911’18.272-0.31999
23Charles LeclercHaas-Ferrari1’18.88232
24Esteban OconRenault1’18.98130

Author information

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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9 comments on “Rosberg heads tight final practice, Hamilton under investigation”

  1. I can only see Hamilton taking a purposeful reprimand and 2 engine penalties at spa.

    50 place grid drop and he is good for the rest of the season.
    And what an exciting race spa will be, can’t wait!

  2. seemed like a fairly b latent case of unsafe release, should probably only be a fine though.

  3. Regarding the likelihood of Hamilton getting a reprimand, since 2011 there have been 38 unsafe release investigations, only one of which has resulted in a driver reprimand:

    https://www.racefans.net/2015-f1-season/statistics/penalties-index/#inv208

    That was because the driver involved was deemed to have paid insufficient intention. So while it’s possible Hamilton could get a reprimand, it would be unusual, and it would likely be because the stewards felt he contributed to a hazardous situation.

    1. Great stat Keith thanks for that.

    2. Frankly, I’d be surprised if Hamilton got off scot-free. He is who he is: the stewards will throw everything at him.

      1. This is ridiculous

      2. @rantingmrp Apparently not.

        This is an area we’ve been into at some length before as well:

        Five years, over 35 incidents: Has Hamilton been treated fairly?

  4. If he gets a penalty, that 6th engine will be installed quicker than you can say “schadenfreude”.

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