Posted on 11th October 2014
This morning we saw Mercedes picking up where they let off in FP2 and setting the pace in FP3 at the Russian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton fastest ahead of Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas.
Before the session even began, it was announced that Nico Hulkenberg will take a five place grid penalty into qualifying after changing his gearbox yesterday evening. Let us not forget that Pastor Maldonado also takes the second half of his ten place grid penalty for using an sixth engine in Suzuka and will drop five places after qualifying.
During the session, we saw a few drivers pushing the limits and capabilities of the Sochi circuit. In the early stages of the session, we saw Kevin Magnussen hitting the “sleeping policeman†at Turn 2, controlling his car beautifully to avoid the barriers and then had to stop with a suspected puncture or suspension failure. It has just been announced that Magnussen will take a five place grid penalty into qualifying after the McLaren have had to change parts of his car.
We also saw Daniil Kvyat have a severe lock up into Turn 13 but was able to continue during the session. We then saw during the latter stages of the session championship leader Lewis Hamilton spinning in Turn 17 after adjusting his steering wheel and locking up the rears. Hamilton then ended his session by going into the pit lane after his spin.
But despite the spin from Hamilton, he was fastest once again with a lap time of 1.38.726 ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg by 0.290 seconds and also the Williams of Valtteri Bottas who has massively improved from yesterday 0.371 seconds behind Hamilton.
Even though Daniel Ricciardo has stated yesterday that he felt Red Bull were further off the pace than they expected, he finished the session in fourth place ahead of Felipe Massa in fifth place and local boy Danill Kvyat in sixth place who is having yet another strong showing in the Toro Rosso.
Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in seventh place ahead of his team mate Fernando Alonso in eighth place, Jean-Eric Vergne in ninth place and Sebastian Vettel who rounds off the top ten finishers of the session.
Jenson Button had a disappointing session after such a promising Friday and finished the session in eleventh place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in twelfth place, Sergio Perez in thirteenth place and Adrian Sutil in fourteenth place. Sutil finished ahead of his team mate Esteban Guiterrez in fifteenth place ahead of Romain Grosjean in sixteenth place and Kevin Magnussen despite his spin in seventeenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Marcus Ericsson once again finished ahead of his team mate Kamui Kobayashi and ended the session in eighteenth place. Kobayashi ended the session in nineteenth place ahead of Max Chilton in twentieth place. To add to Pastor Maldonado's worries, he didn't set a time in the session due to him suffering an ERS system which kept him in the garage during the session.
The classification of FP3 at the Russian Grand Prix is as follows below:-
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.38.726
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0.290s
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 0.371s
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1.029s
Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1.228s
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1.283s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1.285s
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1.425s
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1.429s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1.612s
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1.629s
Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1.943s
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1.973s
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 2.420s
Esteban Guiterrez Sauber-Ferrari 2.794s
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 3.189s
Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 3.710s
Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 4.383s
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 5.249s
Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 6.011s
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault No Time
Report by Sarah Jones
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