» Rosberg edges Hamilton in final session

Nico Rosberg has kept his advantage over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the final practice session of the 2015 Formula 1 season at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit.

The German, who is gunning for three race wins on the trot, beat Hamilton by 0.281 seconds in the final on-track running before this evening’s qualifying session, while fourth-fastest Sergio Pérez split the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen on the timesheets.

While the Mercedes’ occupied their usual 1-2 at the top of the timesheets, there was still evidence of tension between its two drivers after Hamilton complained over the pit-to-car radio that Rosberg had held him up on a flying lap late in the one-hour session.

Vettel was the Silver Arrows’ closest challenger, finishing just over three-tenths of a second off Rosberg’s pace, with teammate Räikkönen a further four-tenths adrift.

By far the star performer of the weekend so far has been Pérez, who continued his red hot Friday form with the fourth-fastest time of the session. Teammate Nico Hülkenberg was seventh-fastest in the Silverstone team’s other VJM08B, just behind Daniel Ricciardo, who was the only Red Bull Racing driver to complete a timed lap after troubles for teammate Daniil Kvyat.

Kvyat’s car appeared to suffer from electrical gremlins early on, with the Russian forced back into the pits after his installation lap.

The Williams Mercedes’ of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finished eighth- and ninth-fastest respectively, although the team is yet to really show its hand after opting to give each driver just one set of either tyre compound to use in the session. By contrast, every other driver to post a time in this session ran on at least four different sets of Pirelli tyres.

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2015 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Results
Pos	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid	1:41.856		19
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid	1:42.137	+ 0.281	19
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T	1:42.185	+ 0.329	19
4.	Sergio Pérez	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B	1:42.448	+ 0.592	17
5.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T	1:42.627	+ 0.771	17
6.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11	1:42.726	+ 0.870	14
7.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B	1:42.859	+ 1.003	17
8.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37	1:43.173	+ 1.317	23
9.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37	1:43.239	+ 1.383	18
10.	Carlos Sainz	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10	1:43.429	+ 1.573	21
11.	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda MP4-30	1:43.508	+ 1.652	14
12.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid	1:43.680	+ 1.824	17
13.	Felipe Nasr	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34	1:43.718	+ 1.862	23
14.	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10	1:43.826	+ 1.970	18
15.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid	1:43.928	+ 2.072	20
16.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda MP4-30	1:44.014	+ 2.158	12
17.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34	1:44.325	+ 2.469	20
18.	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B	1:47.283	+ 5.427	15
19.	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B	1:47.520	+ 5.664	16
20.	Daniil Kvyat	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11	no time		2