» Hamilton edges Rosberg in final practice

Defending Formula 1 champions Mercedes once again dominated proceedings in preparation for Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton narrowly outpaced teammate Nico Rosberg by less than one-tenth of a second in final practice.

With nobody appearing to bother the top two, the two Silver Arrows exchanged the lead throughout the one-hour session until Hamilton managed to secure the top spot in the closing stages, clocking a 1:36.403 to edge Rosberg by 0.068 seconds.

Ferrari was best of the rest with Sebastian Vettel third-fastest, albeit some six-tenths behind Hamilton. A further 0.7 seconds behind was his teammate Kimi Räikkönen.

The two Williams drivers matched each other’s pace throughout the session, with Felipe Massa emerging fifth-fastest ahead of Valtteri Bottas, 1.5 seconds off the lead.

Behind them formed a mixed scrap for what will theoretically be the final spots in Q3, which looks set to be a scrap between Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Force India and McLaren.

Max Verstappen answered his Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz’s pace by outpacing the Spaniard for the first time this weekend. Verstappen finished the session seventh-fastest, two positions and three-tenths of a second quicker than Sainz. The pair sandwich Jenson Button’s McLaren in eighth, while the sister MP4-30 of Fernando Alonso was twelfth-fastest.

Sergio Pérez showed good pace for Force India to grab tenth spot tenth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo; their respective sister cars Nico Hülkenberg and Daniil Kvyat were fourteenth and thirteenth-fastest. Hülkenberg, in particular, struggled to match his teammate’s pace in the session.

The Haas-Ferraris and the Renaults continued their close battle on the lower positions on the timesheets, swapping positions constantly before Positions 15-18 were finally settled in the order of Esteban Gutiérrez, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer.

The Manor Racing cars outpaced both Saubers in the session, with Rio Haryanto ahead of Pascal Wehrlein – the latter continued his difficult weekend although he was less than 0.1 seconds slower than the Indonesian driver. Over at Sauber, Felipe Nasr’s new chassis continued to give him no joy, finishing slowest of all behind teammate Marcus Ericsson.

Drivers spent the session doing their qualifying simulations with Turn 13 proving tricky as a number of drivers went off the track there.

Qualifying starts at 15:00 local time (GMT +3).

2016 FORMULA 1 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE 3 RESULTS
	Driver	Team / Entry	Result	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W07 Hybrid	1:36.403	17
2.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W07 Hybrid	+ 0.068	22
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H	+ 0.604	28
4.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H	+ 1.324	14
5.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW38	+ 1.515	16
6.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW38	+ 1.582	16
7.	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR11	+ 1.730	22
8.	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	+ 1.857	14
9.	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR11	+ 2.062	25
10.	Sergio Pérez	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM09	+ 2.139	18
11.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer RB12	+ 2.219	23
12.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda MP4-31	+ 2.230	12
13.	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer RB12	+ 2.644	15
14.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM09	+ 2.759	16
15.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas F1 Ferrari VF-16	+ 2.827	18
16.	Kevin Magnussen	Renault Sport F1 Team RS16	+ 2.835	16
17.	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Ferrari VF-16	+ 2.836	15
18.	Jolyon Palmer	Renault Sport F1 Team RS16	+ 3.186	19
19.	Rio Haryanto	Manor Racing Mercedes MRT5	+ 3.196	19
20.	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Racing Mercedes MRT5	+ 3.260	18
21.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C35	+ 3.337	23
22.	Felipe Nasr	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C35	+ 3.495	19