Tag: FP3 timesheets

Rosberg keeps the top spot for third Spanish GP practice session

Depsite a sensor switching his car into protective limp mode during the third and final Spanish GP practice session, Nico Rosberg maintained his strong form topping the time sheets for the session.

Sebastian Vettel went third fastest for Ferrari setting the fastest overall times through the first and second sectors. His time was 0.147s off Rosberg’s.

Max Verstappen who has taken over Danill Kvyat’s seat at Red Bull finished fourth fastest a tenth of a second ahead of his team mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Kimi Raikkonen encountered quite a bit of traffic and went sixth fastest ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Daniil Kvyat and Fernando Alonso, rounding out the top 10.

It was not the most eventful of practice sessions – Nico Hulkenberg took up the 11th Spanish GP FP3 spot ahead of Felipe Massa, Carlos Sainz Jr, Romain Grosjean and Jenson Button.

Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer finished 16th and 18th for Renault respectively with the Manor of Esteban Gutierrez splitting the two.

Felipe Nasr only just beat Marcus Ericsson over half a second ahead of Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto.

Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live chat and commentary during the Spanish GP qualifying.

May 14, 2016
Hamilton makes it a clean sweep in dry Australian GP final practice

Lewis Hamilton made it a clean sweep by going fastest once again in the final practice session ahead of the Australian GP. The British driver edged out his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, finishing 0.176s ahead of the German to top the final practice session time sheets with a stonking time of 1:25.624s.

While the Mercedes team are still ahead of the field, it is refreshing to see the dominant gap shrinking – Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completed the final practice session only two tenths behind the Mercs and the entire field of 22 drivers are seperated by only 3.648.

The scene is definitely set for a brilliant qualifying session which will take place in a brand new knock-out format. Vettel’s final practice time was set before the two Mercedes drivers who set their times on a rapidly improving track which suggests their could be plenty of action toward the end of qualifying later this today.

There was no sign of rain throughout the entire final practice session and conditions continued to improve throughout the entire 60 minute run.

Toro Rosso proved to be very impressive with Carlos Sainz Jr – who is running a 2015-spec Ferrari engine – splitting the two Ferraris to go fourth fastest, two tenths clear of Kimi Raikkonen. Max Verstappen brought his Toro Rosso home 6th fastest ahead of Valterri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo.

Felipe Massa finished ninth fastest and Force India’s Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.

The two McLaren drivers showed that the team seems to have made some encouraging progress with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button setting the 11th and 12th quickest times respectively. Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat was 13th, ahead of the leading Sauber of Marcus Ericsson and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg finished 16th fastest with Renault’s Jolyon Palmer behind him.

Some action in the pitlane saw F1 rookie driver Rio Haryanto and Romain Grosjean colliding early in the final practice session when they were both released at the same time.

Haryanto was able to get out shortly after with a new front wing bolted to his car, but Haas chose to change the floor as well as the front wing on Grosjean’s car before getting him back out.

Haryanto finished the session 22nd and last on the time sheets, but only two tenths adrift of team mate Pascal Wehrlein.

Grosjean completed the fewest laps of anybody with 11 and ended the session 19th – a 0.008s shave slower than team mate Esteban Gutierrez.

The new format qualifying format will make its debut just a little later this morning. Will Mercedes continue to dominate? Or could the rest of the field be in it to grab it from them? Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live interaction, commentary and chat throughout the session.

Final Practice FP3 Classification:

Lewis Hamilton Photo Credit – Mercedes AMG Petronas

March 19, 2016
Hamilton only just edges out Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain GP third practice

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton posted the fast time for the third and final practice session ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain GP. Hamilton’s time of 1:34.599 was only just 0.069s faster than Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.

The day time session though, will not be entirely indicative of what will happen during qualifying and the Bahrain GP race – both of which will take place under the floodlights of the Sakhir International Circuit.

Nico Rosberg finished third fastest and Kimi Raikkonen posted the fourth best time to see Mercedes and Ferrari heading up the top of the timesheets.

The Williams drivers, who were struggling with the tailwinds on the circuit during the session, finished fifth and sixth fastest with Valterri Bottas edging out his team mate Felipe Massa.

Almost a second back, Pastor Maldonado finished in seventh place for his Lotus team with Daniel Ricciardo the only Red Bull driver in the top 10 after his team mate, Daniil Kvyat spun out at Turn 4 and beached his Red Bull in the gravel trap bringing out a brief Red Flag period. The Red Bull mechanics got him back out with 5 minutes of the session remaining and he recovered to finish in 12th place.

Nico Hulkenberg placed his Force India in ninth position and Sauber rookie Felipe Nasr continued to impress, rounding out the Top 10.

Jenson Button somehow managed to post the 11th fastest time for McLaren despite complaining throughout the session about a lack of grip and traction around the circuit.

Marcus Ericsson finished ahead of Max Verstappen who posted the 14th fastest time ahead of Sergio Perez. Alonso managed to bring his McLaren home with the 16th fastest time – beating only Sainz Jr, Romain Grosjean and the two Manor F1 drivers, Will Stevens and Roberto Mehri.

With the Ferrari drivers clearly playing amongst the Mercedes crowd and the gap between Hamilton and Vettel so super close, the scene is set for a very interesting qualifying session under the floodlights. Mercedes still seem to be on top of things, but Ferrari are breathing fire down their necks!

Join us for live chat and commentary on Twitter @F1_Madness throughout the race weekend.

Lewis Hamilton Bahrain GP FP3 Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG F1

Your full timesheet is below:

April 18, 2015
It’s advantage Rosberg ahead of Abu Dhabi Qualifying

Nico Rosberg held the advantage over Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton in the final practice session for the 2014 season at the Yas Marina circuit. Rosberg set the fastest time ahead of the qualifying session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with a 1:41.424 – 0.369s faster than his team mate.

Hamilton looked set to take the top spot after setting the fastest two sectors during his final lap but lost too much ground in the final sector.

Williams’ Felipe Massa took the third spot on the time sheets, a full 1.005s down on Rosberg, showing once again the superiority of the Mercedes duo and their lightning fast cars.

We should not, however, forget that the setting sun and subsequent falling track temperatures during qualifying at the Yas Marina circuit will mean that a fast FP3 lap may not translate into the same during qualifying. For this very reason, qualifying simulations were left until pretty late in the practice session to get track conditions as close to qualifying as possible. Mercedes should still nevertheless lock out the front row of the grid in qualifying, with Williams hot on their heels.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso set his time on soft tyres during the early stages of the session, then set a time on the supersofts and never took part in the rest of the session. He ended in fourth place as he and Ferrari attempt to save mileage on his engine.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel finished his last practice session for the Red Bull team in fifth place, ahead of Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo.

Valtteri Bottas Bottas made a mistake in the final corner on his super-soft run which saw him only managing eigth place but he will most certainly be targeting the second row, come qualifying.

Daniil Kvyat and Kimi Raikkonen completed the top 10.

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen posted the 11th best time of the session, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

Esteban Gutierrez beat the two Lotus drivers Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean to 15th place with Adrian Sutil just behind.

Caterham remained at the bottom of the timesheets on their return to F1 this weekend with Caterham’s rookie Will Stevens getting to within a second of team mate Kamui Kobayashi’s time for the first time.

November 22, 2014
Rosberg makes it three out of three in final Brazilian GP practice

Rosberg has sent out a very clear message about his intentions this weekend by completing a clean sweep after topping the time sheets for all three practice sessions ahead of the Brazilian GP.

Rosberg topped the session ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton with a lap time of 1:10.446. His time is faster any pole position time ever seen at the circuit, and only six tenths of a second off the record time, which was set a decade ago. It is very likely that we’ll see the record time beaten before the end of the Brazilian GP on the newly resurfaced Interlagos circuit.

An epic storm which hit Sao Paolo last night washed away most of the rubber that had been laid down during Friday’s Brazilian GP practice sessions so grip levels were pretty low to start off with. A good few drivers enjoyed a few minor spins and excursions off the track including Lewis Hamilton who spun into the Senna S.

The Williams duo set the early pace while teams were still running on the Prime tyres but fell behind the Mercedes drivers after the switch to options. Brazilian home favourite Felipe Massa still manage to secure the third spot with Valterri Bottas finishing fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth for Red Bull, ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button. Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso placed themselves in seventh and eighth for Ferrari, while Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat completed the top 10.

Sebastian Vettel could manage only 11th for Red Bull, ahead of everybody’s favourite Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado.

Adrian Sutil, who has pretty much been dumped by his team Sauber team, finished 13th, ahead of the two Frenchmen Romain Grosjean and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Esteban Gutierrez, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez rounded out the 18-car field. Only 18 cars will compete in the Brazilian GP following the shutting down of the Marussia F1 team, and Caterham who are now looking for crowd funding in order to still be able to compete in Abu Dhabi.

Nico Rosberg will be looking to secure pole position this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s Brazilian GP, and with possible rain on the way, there’s no doubt that the stage is set for a nail biting qualifying session.

Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live commentary and chat during qualifying and the Brazlian GP.

Your full time sheet for the third and final Brazilian GP practice session, is below:

November 8, 2014
Hamilton pips Rosberg in 2nd US GP practice

Lewis Hamilton only just edged out Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by 0.003s to take the top spot on the timesheet of the second practice session for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

Rosberg was ahead of Hamilton after the low-fuel runs on options but Hamilton responded on his second flying lap and posted a 1:39.085.

Hamilton’s session was ended 15 minutes before the end of practice session with the Mercedes mechanics hard at work on fixing a suspected hydraulic leak. Both of the Mercedes drivers were complaining early on about gearbox issues when they started their race simulations.

Fernando Alonso finished the session third fastest for Ferrari, a full second off Hamilton’s pace. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo recovered after missing most of FP1 to end the day in fourth place.

Felipe Massa was fifth fastest on the timesheets ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Daniil Kvyat.

Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button both looked pretty strong on the prime tyres but were a good deal weaker on the options and finished the session in eighth and ninth place respectively.

Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the top 10.

Your full time sheet is below. Please join us on Twitter @F1_Madness tomorrow for FP3 and qualifying for the US Grand Prix.

October 31, 2014
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.

October 11, 2014
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.

The 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

August 23, 2014
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 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!

June 21, 2014
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.

The 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.

June 7, 2014