Red Bull fastest as Mercedes hold back

Max Verstappen led Daniel Ricciardo in a Red Bull one-two in the final practice session but the Mercedes drivers clearly had more pace in hand.

The silver cars waited until the dying seconds of the session to respond to the quickest times set by the RB12s. But Rosberg abandoned his effort on super-softs and Hamilton, having begun his lap moments before the session began, caught traffic at the end of his run. “Really poor timing, guys,” he told them on the radio.

The upshot was neither W07 featured in the top three. Verstappen, who set his lap later in the session than Ricciardo, was ahead by just over a quarter of a second.

Kimi Raikkonen was half a second off the Red Bull but the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel was hindered by a a gearbox problem.

Both McLarens made it into the top ten behind the Mercedes-powered duo Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas. The Toro Rosso pair could only manage 14th and 15th places, Carlos Sainz Jnr suffering two separate punctures during the 60-minute sessions.

Proceedings were interrupted by red flags caused by Pascal Wehrlein who spun off at the penultiamte corner. He had to be told several times to switch his engine off as he tried to wait for marshals to push him out of the gravel trap.

Third practice visual gaps

Combined practice times

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