Rosberg completes practice sweep in damp session

2016 Japanese Grand Prix third practice

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Nico Rosberg completed a clean sweep of all three practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix in a damp final hour of running.

After a quiet 20 minutes at the start of practice the track had dried in time for drivers to do their qualifying simulations. Using the soft tyres, Rosberg posted a 1’32.092 to lower the quickest time of the weekend.

Several drivers subsequently beat Rosberg’s run through the twisty first sector of the lap, but many encountered traffic later on their runs and had to abort their efforts. That accounted for his team mate Lewis Hamilton as well as Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen. “Cars everywhere,” lamented the Red Bull driver on the radio.

Daniel Ricciardo was seconq-quickest, ending up three-tenths of a second off Rosberg with his final run. Hamilton slipped to seventh in the final classification after a late improvement by Felipe Massa.

The biggest surprise of the session was produced by the Renault pair. As well as setting identical times to within one-thousandth of a second, both drivers featured inside the top ten.

Neither McLaren driver featured in the top ten at Honda’s home circuit. Both Haas drivers struggled with their cars but despite spinning early on Esteban Gutierrez managed the 12th best time.

Carlos Sainz Jnr only completed three laps as a technical problem confined him to the Toro Rosso garage.

Combined practice times

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’32.092 14
2 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’32.394 0.302 10
3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’32.731 0.639 13
4 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’32.784 0.692 9
5 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’33.011 0.919 12
6 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’33.271 1.179 13
7 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’33.284 1.192 12
8 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1’33.639 1.547 13
9 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1’33.639 1.547 10
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’33.646 1.554 11
11 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1’33.714 1.622 12
12 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1’33.787 1.695 16
13 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’33.865 1.773 9
14 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’33.921 1.829 11
15 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’34.037 1.945 12
16 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’34.272 2.180 13
17 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1’34.388 2.296 12
18 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’34.544 2.452 13
19 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1’34.548 2.456 11
20 31 Esteban Ocon Manor-Mercedes 1’35.230 3.138 13
21 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1’37.256 5.164 10
22 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’56.323 24.231 3

Third practice visual gaps

Nico Rosberg – 1’32.092

+0.302 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’32.394

+0.639 Sebastian Vettel – 1’32.731

+0.692 Max Verstappen – 1’32.784

+0.919 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’33.011

+1.179 Felipe Massa – 1’33.271

+1.192 Lewis Hamilton – 1’33.284

+1.547 Jolyon Palmer – 1’33.639

+1.547 Kevin Magnussen – 1’33.639

+1.554 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’33.646

+1.622 Fernando Alonso – 1’33.714

+1.695 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’33.787

+1.773 Valtteri Bottas – 1’33.865

+1.829 Sergio Perez – 1’33.921

+1.945 Daniil Kvyat – 1’34.037

+2.180 Romain Grosjean – 1’34.272

+2.296 Felipe Nasr – 1’34.388

+2.452 Marcus Ericsson – 1’34.544

+2.456 Jenson Button – 1’34.548

+3.138 Esteban Ocon – 1’35.230

+5.164 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’37.256

Pos Driver Car FP1 FP2 FP3 Fri/Sat diff Total laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’32.431 1’32.250 1’32.092 -0.158 73
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’32.646 1’32.322 1’33.284 +0.962 68
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’34.112 1’34.150 1’32.394 -1.718 62
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’33.817 1’32.573 1’33.011 +0.438 55
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’33.525 1’33.103 1’32.731 -0.372 66
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’34.379 1’33.061 1’32.784 -0.277 64
7 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’36.169 1’34.127 1’33.271 -0.856 69
8 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’34.767 1’33.570 1’33.921 +0.351 78
9 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1’37.992 1’34.760 1’33.639 -1.121 66
10 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1’36.822 1’34.339 1’33.639 -0.7 76
11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’34.530 1’33.873 1’33.646 -0.227 74
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1’35.003 1’33.985 1’33.714 -0.271 59
13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1’36.219 1’34.643 1’33.787 -0.856 48
14 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’35.381 1’34.028 1’33.865 -0.163 73
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’35.446 1’34.305 1’34.037 -0.268 62
16 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’35.672 1’34.086 1’56.323 +22.237 63
17 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’35.688 1’34.241 1’34.272 +0.031 63
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1’35.967 1’34.824 1’34.388 -0.436 53
19 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1’35.677 1’34.398 1’34.548 +0.15 64
20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’36.294 1’36.318 1’34.544 -1.75 58
21 Esteban Ocon Manor-Mercedes 1’37.797 1’35.400 1’35.230 -0.17 79
22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1’37.966 1’35.292 1’37.256 +1.964 64

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    Keith Collantine
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    3 comments on “Rosberg completes practice sweep in damp session”

    1. Profile Photo

      BasCB (@bascb)
      8th October 2016, 5:12

      Hm, Hamilton made a few mistakes in S2 and aborted his fast lap. And traffic was quite a big thing. I can see that traffic combined with mistakes making qualifying tricky. But I sort of still expect Hamilton to make it work.

      It seems Renault has either finally learned how to set up the car or it just seems to work wonderfully at this one track. Palmer certainly seemed content with the balance of it after the session. I would be surprised to see them be in Q3 on pace, but on the other hand they were getting closer already the last few races and with a few slip ups (seems McLaren are not quite on it here and Bottas did not seem to feel good out there for example) they might get one in there.

      1. Profile Photo

        Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
        8th October 2016, 5:41

        I’ve noticed the cars are running stiffer in this track, probably because of the nature of the track, flowing tracks have suited Lotus/Renault, and the also the fact Renault introduced a new rear end packaging recently is some progress. I’d say what we’re seeing is mostly down to the track characteristics and the tyre pressures as some have disappeared (McLaren) and others (SFI and Renault) look better.

    2. Profile Photo

      NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
      8th October 2016, 6:23

      Awesome. Are we going for Nico P1 and Lewis P2? Then Lewis win from P2? Traditionally when Nico is close ahead in practices Lewis can then match him in Q3.

      Or is Lewis engine saving?

      As for others phew so far behind.

    Comments are closed.