F1 Madness

Tag: FP3 results

  • Hamilton dominates in final Russian practice

    Hamilton dominates in final Russian practice

    Lewis Hamilton set a dominant pace during the final practice session at the Sochi Autodrom ahead of this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix.

    Hamilton’s time of 1:38.726 was comfortably faster than the rest of the pack, despite a spin at the penultimate corner which saw him destroy his tyres and unable to complete his lap. At the time he had over a second advantage over his rivals and was on course to improve his own lap time.

    Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas did improve and Rosberg ended the session 0.29s down on his team mate’s time.

    Daniel Ricciardo finished the session in fourth spot for Red Bull, followed by Felipe Massa and Daniil Kvyat.

    Kimi Raikkonen finished the session ahead of his Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso. The two were 7th and 8th respectively. Jean-Éric Vergne and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10.

    Jenson Button finished in 11th place, unable to match the awesome pace McLaren had showed during the Friday practice sessions. He repeatedly complained about balance saying that it was “just aweful”.

    His McLaren team mate, Kevin Magnussen had himself a bit of trouble on track. His gear box failed and the Danish driver found himself doing some scary stunt driving to keep his car out of the wall. He managed to do that but the gearbox change will mean a 5 place grid penalty for him.

    Pastor Maldonado did not set a time due to an ERS problem.

    Top times for the session are below. Please join us on Twitter, @F1_Madness for live commentary and chat during this afternoon’s qualifying session.

    sochi-fp3-times

  • Bottas fastest in damp final practice

    Bottas fastest in damp final practice

    Williams driver, Valterri Bottas, topped the timesheets after the third and final practice session at Spa Francorchamps, ahead of qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. Bottas set a time of 1:49.465 to finish the session 0.268s clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

    Drivers were greeted by damp conditions today with overnight rain, and rain expected for qualifying later this afternoon. Most drivers used intermediate tyres for their installation laps with some opting for full wets.

    Andre Lotterer was the first driver to set a time before sliding wide at La Source. Jules Bianchi soon beat his time and remained fastest for the first half of the session as most drivers chose to stay in their garages.

    eau-rouge-mclarenThe track dried considerably halfway through and the track was once again abuzz with action.  Esteban Gutierrez broke the silence and ventured out Primes, lowering Bianchi’s benchmark by a second.

    Inevtiably, the Mercedes drivers made their way to the top of the timesheets with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg switching at the top for a short while. At one stage, Hamilton snatched the fastest time off his team mate by a crazy one thousandth of a second! It is times like these that really make Formula One.

    After switching to soft tyres for qualifying simulations, the Mercedes drivers found themselves getting knocked off the top spots.

    It was Bottas who finished in front, with Ricciardo second and Nico Rosberg third, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, who set identical lap times during a frantic end to the session.

    Alonso finished in sixth, with Daniil Kvyat, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa and Jean-Eric Vergne rounding out the top 10. Full timesheet for the session below.

    We’ll be back for qualifying shortly! Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live tweets and chat throughout. Rain is expected so we’re expecting a cracker of a session.

    Photo Credits: Williams and Mclaren F1 teams

    FP3 Timesheet

    fp3-spa

  • Rosberg leads the pack in final practice

    Rosberg leads the pack in final practice

    Nico Rosberg topped the time sheets during the final practice ahead of qualifying for the German Grand Prix with a time of 1:17.779.

    Rosberg’s time is a surprising 0.601 clear of his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.

    Despite a spin in at turn eight halfway through the session, Fernando Alonso recovered to set the third quickest time of the practice session, a mere 0.004 down on Hamilton.

    The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas led much of the practice session on prime tyres, but ended up fourth and fifth respectively after the supersoft runs.

    Kevin Magnussen finished sixth after setting the pace during the opening stages of final practice, with Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen behind him.

    Raikkonen switched to options very early on, but was unable to continue in the final stages of practice due to a problem with his fuel pump. The Ferrari team are working ferverishly to change the fuel pump before qualifying gets underway.

    Red Bull’s performance was either lacklustre, or one big sandbag as reigning world champ Sebastian Vettel parked his car in ninth place.

    Nico Hulkenberg took the last spot in the top ten for Force India.

    Jenson Button had much complaining about understeer and problems with his braking during practice, most likely a result of no longer having FRIC suspension. None of the teams will be running FRIC this weekend after it was deemed illegal by the FIA earlier this week.

    Full timesheet for the session is below. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for qualifying later this afternoon at 14h00 GMT +2.

    FP3 Final practice timesheet, Hockenheim

    Photo credit: Mercedes

     

     

     

  • Bottas puts Williams on top in FP3

    Bottas puts Williams on top in FP3

    Williams driver Valtteri Bottas set the quickest time during FP3 ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend.Bottas set a time of 1:09.848 to end the session 0.050s faster than Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton at the Red Bull Ring.

    Felipe Massa was third fastest, and Daniil Kvyat put his Toro Rosso in a surprise fourth place. Nico Rosberg had a couple of off-track excursions during FP3 but ended the session fifth fastest ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.

    The Top 10 were rounded out by Kevin Magnussen, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.

    Sergio PerezSergio Perez, who finished in 15th place on the timesheets, ran wide twice at the final corner, airlifting his Force India the second time around.

    Max Chilton and Jenson Button were both unable to set a time on option tyres due to mechanical problems. Button damaged the floor of his McLaren which will need replacing before qualifying, along with his right rear brake caliper.

    The session was a positive one for Ferrari and reports are that they will be running their new set up for qualifying and the race tomorrow.

    It’s highly unlikely that anyone will snatch the top places away from the Mercedes drivers come qualifying later on, but if anyone poses the slightest threat right now it’ll be the Williams duo. Keep your eyes on that team, they’re really progressing nicely!

    Your full FP3 timesheet is below. Join us 2pm GMT+2 on Twitter for live chat and commentary throughout the session. And don’t forget to enter to WIN A VIP TRIP TO THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX!

    FP3times

     

  • Hamilton fastest in Canadian GP final practice

    Hamilton fastest in Canadian GP final practice

    Lewis Hamilton has finished fastest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, repeating his earlier performance from FP2.

    This time round, however, he was not followed by team mate Nico Rosberg, who had to settle for third place behind Felipe Massa’s flying Williams.

    gutierrezThe session started out well, with Magnussen setting the initial pace, but was brought to an abrupt halt when Esteban Gutierrez put his Sauber in the wall and brought out the red flag. The car took a good deal of damage and it’s looking likely that he’ll need a gearbox replacement before qualifying. If this happens, Gutierrez will face a 5 place grid penalty. Marshalls made very quick work of clearing the Sauber and the session was back underway within 5 minutes.

    The front-runners headed back out quickly and it was Sergio Perez who was first to better Magnussen’s lap time before Hamilton ripped another seven-tenths off the Force India’s time.

    Ferrari enjoyed a few brief moments in the top two spots with Fernando Alonso leading from Kimi Raikkonen, but Hamilton soon put them back in their places by going another half a second quicker.

    The two Williams drivers soon joined in the fun at the top as Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas moved up into second and third places, only for Hamilton to once again stomp his authority everwhere and widen the gap by yet another half a second. Rosberg went just six-hundredths faster but with both of them still on the harder tyres, Mercedes clearly still have a massive advantage.

    In the final ten minutes of the session, drivers attempted to complete their final qualifying simulations but Rosberg and Hamilton both chose not to set fast times on their supersofts. Felipe Massa jumped himself back into second place behind Hamilton leaving Rosberg to settle for third ahead of Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen.

    Hamilton’s 4/10s advantage over the rest of the field is on the harder tyres so he’s looking set to claim his 5th pole position of the year. But let’s not forget Rosberg who will be keen to fight back and hold on to the championship lead. We should be in for a great battle between the Mercs up front during qualifying today, with the Williams and Ferrari drivers duking it out for the next few places.

    Full timesheet below. Please join us on @F1_Madness for live updates on Twitter.

    FP3 Timesheet

  • Rosberg leads FP3, Mercedes domination continues

    Rosberg leads FP3, Mercedes domination continues

    Mercedes sent another strong message to their rivals with Nico Rosberg the messenger during FP3 in Australia ahead of qualifying this morning. Rosberg finished the session a crazy 1.3 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Jenson Button, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finishing the session in 3rd place. Lewis Hamilton finished the session in fourth place but could very easily have made it a 1-2 for Ferrari, had he not run wide at Turn 9 on his second flying lap.

    The Mercedes W05 was clearly the fastest car out there on both tyre compounds with both Rosberg and Hamilton comfortably fastest in earlier FP3 running.

    Lotus’ woes seem far from over with Romain Grosjean complaining about his engine misfiring, and Pastor Maldonado stopping out on track less than a minute before the chequered flag came out on the session.

    Kimi Raikkonen also continued his struggle with his car’s balance, running off the track on more than one occasion and finishing the session in 7th, a full 1.7 seconds off the pace.

    Spots of rain threatened just before the green flag on the FP3 session, and a gusty wind made its presence known around the track. Heavy rain is heading for the track just ahead of qualifying which could really impact on how the session will play out.

    As always you can join us on Twitter (@F1_Madness) at 7:30am for qualifying build up as well as for live updates throughout the session. We’ll also be around for some post qualifying chat – so do join in!

    Here is the full timesheet for FP3:

    FP3 Timesheet Australia

    Photo credit: Mercedes

     

     

  • Vettel stays on top as Grosjean ups his pace in FP3

    Vettel stays on top as Grosjean ups his pace in FP3

    Sebastian Vettel remained fastest in Singapore this morning, improving on his time from yesterday by a tenth of a second but his rivals are closing the gap.

    Romain Grosjean finished the third practice session in second place, less than two tenths away from Vettel’s time.

    Nico Rosberg finished in third place at the end of the session but his time was half a second slower than Vettel.

    As was the case in yesterday’s FP2 session, drivers found that the supersoft tyres were over two seconds per lap faster than the medium tyres – quite a considerable difference.

    Mark Webber who finished fourth today, was the fastest man on track before the switch to supersofts so that will certainly be something to look out for during the race.

    Lewis Hamilton brought the other Mercedes home in fifth ahead of Fernando Alonso who finished 6th on the time sheets today in his Ferrari which is clearly lacking pace around this circuit.

    Kimi Raikkonen managed only 12th this session, not setting a representative time on the supersofts.

    Here is the full time sheet for the session. Follow us on Twitter (@F1_Madness) for live updates throughout qualifying later today and the race tomorrow.

    fp3-results-singapore

     

  • 2013 Silverstone F1 Free Practice 3 Results

    2013 Silverstone F1 Free Practice 3 Results

    Free Practice 3 took place under dry, but windy conditions today at Silverstone.

    Nico Rosberg went fastest again with a time of 1.31.487, ever so slightly ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes team are looking strong for a pole position – and possibly even a front row lock out in today’s qualifying session.

    Sergio Perez brought out a red flag with 40 minutes remaining in the session, following what McLaren MD, Jonathan Neale called an “instantaneous failure” of his left rear tyre. The tyre literally just came off and Perez came over his team radio saying “the tyre exploded”. There was exstensive damage to his car but the McLaren team amazingly got him back out on track with 9 mins left of the session.

    Felipe Massa sat out the end of the session while his team made a “precautionary” engine change.

    Here are the results for the FP3 session:

    Silverstone British Grand Prix Free Practice 3 results