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.”
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
+2.532 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’18.270
+2.534 Rio Haryanto – 1’18.272
+9.422 Romain Grosjean – 1’25.160
Combined times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’15.517 | 1’15.614 | 1’15.738 | +0.221 | 91 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’15.843 | 1’16.008 | 1’15.795 | -0.048 | 85 |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’17.089 | 1’16.490 | 1’15.837 | -0.653 | 81 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’16.852 | 1’16.512 | 1’15.902 | -0.61 | 84 |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’16.667 | 1’16.208 | 1’16.104 | -0.104 | 88 |
6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’16.927 | 1’16.456 | 1’16.182 | -0.274 | 92 |
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.210 | 1’17.425 | 1’16.400 | -1.025 | 109 |
8 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’18.322 | 1’17.686 | 1’16.630 | -1.056 | 99 |
9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’18.591 | 1’16.781 | 1’16.972 | +0.191 | 94 |
10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’17.183 | 1’17.225 | 1’16.916 | -0.267 | 50 |
11 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’18.044 | 1’17.342 | 1’17.028 | -0.314 | 74 |
12 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’18.628 | 1’17.148 | 1’17.066 | -0.082 | 83 |
13 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’17.612 | 1’17.087 | 1’18.093 | +1.006 | 37 |
14 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.005 | 1’17.160 | -0.845 | 59 | |
15 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’18.008 | 1’17.367 | 1’17.227 | -0.14 | 81 |
16 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1’18.933 | 1’18.056 | 1’17.351 | -0.705 | 90 |
17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’18.313 | 1’17.473 | -0.84 | 70 | |
18 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.589 | 1’17.602 | 1’25.160 | +7.558 | 37 |
19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’18.198 | 1’18.130 | 1’17.685 | -0.445 | 75 |
20 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’18.961 | 1’19.295 | 1’18.057 | -0.904 | 87 |
21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor-Mercedes | 1’19.975 | 1’18.193 | 1’18.270 | +0.077 | 99 |
22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor-Mercedes | 1’19.167 | 1’18.591 | 1’18.272 | -0.319 | 99 |
23 | Charles Leclerc | Haas-Ferrari | 1’18.882 | 32 | |||
24 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’18.981 | 30 |
2016 German Grand Prix
- Ricciardo grabs third Driver of the Weekend win of 2016
- F1 went into the summer break on a low
- 2016 German Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 German Grand Prix
- 2016 German Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
Prab
30th July 2016, 11:08
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!
Lynda Green
30th July 2016, 11:23
seemed like a fairly b latent case of unsafe release, should probably only be a fine though.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th July 2016, 11:24
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.
Ju88sy (@)
30th July 2016, 11:41
Great stat Keith thanks for that.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th July 2016, 12:14
And sure enough, no penalty for Hamilton:
https://www.racefans.net/2016/07/30/hamilton-escapes-reprimand-unsafe-release/
rantingmrp (@rantingmrp)
30th July 2016, 11:50
Frankly, I’d be surprised if Hamilton got off scot-free. He is who he is: the stewards will throw everything at him.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
30th July 2016, 12:20
This is ridiculous
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th July 2016, 12:23
@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?
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
30th July 2016, 12:12
If he gets a penalty, that 6th engine will be installed quicker than you can say “schadenfreude”.