Posted on 4th October 2014
Rosberg quickest in FP3 at Suzuka
This morning we saw Mercedes setting the pace in the final practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix, with Nico Rosberg fastest ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas.
In a session that was once again saw several drivers suffering problems on their cars, the main focus was the aftermath of the announcement that Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel is to leave team after fifteen years in partnership with each other with a move to Ferrari expected to be announced shortly.
This news also saw Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat within a year being promoted to Red Bull as Vettel's replacement to partner Daniel Ricciardo for next season.
Within the session, we saw Kimi Raikkonen not taking any further part in the session due to suspected cylinder issues on his F14 T that ended his participation in the session but he managed to finish in twelfth place. Alongside this, we also saw Sebastian Vettel not taking part in the session due to issues regarding his turbo. But he finished the session in fifteenth place and leaving his team trying to sort this issue out before qualifying in under an hour's time.
Towards the end of the session, we saw Championship leader Lewis Hamilton ending his session with contact with the barriers at the first corner by going too fast into the corner and locking up all four wheels on his W05. This then leaves the Mercedes team with a lot of work to do to fix the car before qualifying.
But Rosberg, who is looking to regain the World Championship lead back again after losing it in Singapore two weeks ago, was fastest with a lap time of 1.33.228, even if his team mate Hamilton had his session ended when he made contact with the barriers at the first corner. Rosberg ended the session 0.982 seconds faster than his team mate Hamilton who was ahead of Fernando Alonso in third place 1.211s behind them the Mercedes pair.
The Williams drivers of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finished the session in fourth and fifth places ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in sixth place, Kevin Magnussen in seventh, Jean-Eric Vergne in eighth place, Daniil Kvyat in ninth place and Jenson Button who finished off the top ten finishers of the session.
Nico Hulkenberg ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in twelfth place, Sergio Perez in thirteenth place and Esteban Guiterrez in fourteenth who nearly made contact with the barriers at the 130R Corner, but was able to continue with the session.
Sebastian Vettel despite his problems with the turbo on his car finished the session in fifteenth place ahead of Romain Grosjean in sixteenth place and Pastor Maldonado in seventeenth place who both experienced incidents off the circuit but were lucky to avoid contact with the barriers, especially Maldonado.
As we head in the latter stages of the grid, Adrian Sutil ended the session in eighteenth place ahead of Marcus Ericsson who appears to be having a reasonable weekend so far in nineteenth place ahead of Max Chilton in twentieth place, Chilton's team mate Jules Bianchi in twenty-first place and local driver Kamui Kobayashi ending the session in twenty-second place.
The classification of FP3 at the Japanese Grand Prix is as follows below:-
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1.33.228
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.982s
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1.211s
Felipe Massa Williams- Mercedes 1.336s
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1.833s
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1.858s
Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 2.025s
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 2.266s
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 2.300s
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 2.321s
Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 2.504s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 2.767s
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 3.137s
Esteban Guiterrez Sauber-Ferrari 3.179s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 3.232s
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 3.330s
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 3.389s
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 3.398s
Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 4.139s
Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 4.655s
Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 4.874s
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 5.556s
