Sebastian Vettel has topped the final practice session at the Singapore Grand Prix and put himself in prime position for qualifying, clearing the rest of the field by almost half a second.
The next-quickest runner was fellow Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen who narrowly finished ahead of Friday pace-setter Daniil Kvyat.
The dominance of Vettel and Ferrari was highlighted by Vettel being the sole driver to crack the 1m46s whilst on the soft compound tyre. The next best effort came from Kvyat in the Red Bull, who was four-tenths of a second slower than the Ferrari.
Although Ferrari locked the top two positions, the story was again focused on Mercedes and how much pace they’re lacking. Lewis Hamilton could only manage a 1:46.082, which was a whopping 1.1 seconds adrift from Vettel’s benchmark.
Nico Rosberg failed to make an impression in the other Mercedes, he was four tenths off Hamilton’s time and 1.5 seconds from Vettel’s. Mercedes will definitely have their work cut out for them in qualifying, entering the session on the back foot for the first time this season.
Red Bull Racing continued their impressive weekend with Daniil Kvyat in third and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth. Kvyat continued to hold an edge over Ricciardo this weekend, spending a good portion of the session occupying the top spot.
Ricciardo was the first of the top runners to make the switch to the super soft tyres and went quickest, although his time was far from convincing as it was only three and a half tenths quicker than Vettel’s time on the soft compound.
McLaren made a massive improvement as Fernando Alonso broke into the top ten and finished seventh, just 0.014 seconds slower than Rosberg’s best time. Jenson Button was a bit further down the grid in thirteenth, finishing a tenth behind Nico Hülkenberg.
The Toro Rosso duo of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen finished the session in the top ten once again, which confirmed the new major upgrade brought to Singapore is having a positive effect on the STR10.
Manor enjoyed a trouble free session with both Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens completing more laps than anyone else in the field, in order to make up for yesterday’s incidents. Rossi racked up a total of 26 laps and finished 2.7 seconds ahead of Stevens, who lapped the street circuit 22 times.
Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top ten for Sauber 1.8 seconds off Vettel’s benchmark.
2015 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Results | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos | Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | |
1. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T | 1:45.682 | 12 | |
2. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T | 1:46.132 | + 0.450 | 12 |
3. | Daniil Kvyat | ![]() |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11 | 1:46.167 | + 0.485 | 19 |
4. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11 | 1:46.359 | + 0.677 | 14 |
5. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid | 1:46.802 | + 1.120 | 15 |
6. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid | 1:47.223 | + 1.541 | 16 |
7. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
McLaren Honda MP4-30 | 1:47.237 | + 1.555 | 14 |
8. | Carlos Sainz | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10 | 1:47.301 | + 1.619 | 18 |
9. | Max Verstappen | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10 | 1:47.464 | + 1.782 | 17 |
10. | Marcus Ericsson | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34 | 1:47.568 | + 1.886 | 20 |
11. | Valtteri Bottas | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37 | 1:47.587 | + 1.905 | 20 |
12. | Nico Hülkenberg | ![]() |
Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B | 1:47.640 | + 1.958 | 16 |
13. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Honda MP4-30 | 1:47.715 | + 2.033 | 14 |
14. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37 | 1:47.733 | + 2.051 | 21 |
15. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid | 1:47.817 | + 2.135 | 16 |
16. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B | 1:48.002 | + 2.320 | 15 |
17. | Romain Grosjean | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid | 1:48.116 | + 2.434 | 15 |
18. | Felipe Nasr | ![]() |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34 | 1:48.932 | + 3.250 | 20 |
19. | Alexander Rossi | ![]() |
Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B | 1:52.588 | + 6.906 | 26 |
20. | Will Stevens | ![]() |
Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B | 1:55.293 | + 9.611 | 22 |
Image via Scuderia Ferrari
Josh Kruse
Latest posts by Josh Kruse (see all)
- Join our writing team! - 20 February, 2017
- Manor F1 team folds after no buyer found - 27 January, 2017
- Formula 1 amends on-track collision penalties - 25 January, 2017
- Brawn returns to F1 in senior Liberty role - 24 January, 2017
- Ecclestone removed as F1’s CEO - 24 January, 2017