CHEQUERED FLAGS! That’s the end of FP3 and it’s Hamilton who went fastest at 1:36.403, with teammate Rosberg very close behind. Ferrari, while in P3 and P4, had a significant gap to the leaders and that will worry them. Sauber have been the slowest by far, and both drivers round up the bottom of the grid.
Most drivers were on the supersofts today.
Final minute of practice! Hamilton drifts a bit in the final sector but he’s now on top with 1:36.403; Rosberg not far behind, with Vettel and Raikkonen rounding up the top four. The gap between the Mercedes pair is minimal – but their gap with Ferrari is significant.
And Vettel is getting quicker! He’s narrowing the gap to Mercedes now. Hamilton looked set to take the lead again, but with a poor final sector on that lap, he’s 0.482s behind teammate Rosberg.
Vettel veers off a bit – but he comes back onto track now! There was a minor bit of a skirmish betwen him and Hamilton getting out of the pit with each team waving their car out
Rosberg on the super softs right now and leading. He’s taking this turn to set a quick pace with a new set of tyres and handling the turns very well for now. No lockups for him and he’s setting very fast times in Sector 2.
….and we’ve spoken too soon. He locks up and loses half a second off his previous time.
Sebastian Vettel went 19 laps on his last set of supersofts; lots of drivers on the softs now, with both McLarens and both Manors currently running the soft compound.
Four drivers now with trouble at Turn 13! Romain Grosjean of Haas is the latest to spin out and take a big big reroute through the turn. Hamilton is quickly catching up though, with a minimal gap to his teammate. Most drivers are currently on supersofts and seriously taking tyres to the limit.
And Hamilton’s been beaten for now! Rosberg goes 1:37.722 to take the lead again! Mercedes-Mercedes Ferrari at the top of the timesheets.
Daniel Ricciardo’s still the fastest, but Hamilton has had a blinding first sector and on the supersofts is taking corners like a beast! He’s now at 1:38.217 and is fastest in both Sector 1 and 2. It’s Daniil Kvyat who takes the final sector fastest!
Virtual Safety Car out for a short bit, and Sergio Perez is having problems as with serious lockups. He veers off tracks and into the barriers, but very slowly, so no damage done.
Daniel Ricciardo went back into the lead for a bit with 1:38.895 and a bit of a slow lap from Sebastian Vettel with 1:41!
That didn’t last long! Max Verstappen shaves a second off Daniel Ricciardo's 1:40.279 to go fastest...and now it’s Perez who goes quicker than his own time yesterday – and catches Verstappen, too.
First lap time set! Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull sets the fastest lap for now, with Hamilton and Force India’s Sergio Perez also looking to set a quick pace. For now, Carlos Sainz Jr of Toro Rosso has set the quickest Sector 1 time.
Lots of drivers having a bit of a struggle at turn 4 – Lewis Hamilton runs wide and gets back on! Max Verstappen appears to handling them really well, however.
Given the track in Sochi is a very smooth one, it’s unlikely there will be much use of the medium compound today. Vettel now returns from his installation lap, and now the Red Bull of Danill Kvyat is getting ready and warmed up. Renault’s Kevin Magnussen locks up and sends a cloud of dust. Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso next out!
It's a 1-hour session today, and Vettel is the first one out on track! Drivers on installation laps right now as Sergio Perez of Force India gets out too.
Drivers now ready to get out on track, right on the dot at 14:30 IST! We know Sebastian Vettel has had his gearbox replaced after yesterday’s total electronics outage; now Ferrari are saying that was a result of his collision with Kimi Raikkonen in China, although they refuse to divulge any more details.
We’re now at the final practice session before qualifying at the Russian Grand Prix, the fourth round of racing in the 2016 Formula One season. It’s already been quite a session so far, with the first two practice sessions dominated by Mercedes. While reigning championship frontrunner Nico Rosberg is firmly on top in the championship standings for now, with a 36-point lead over teammate Lewis Hamilton, the Briton has been fighting back.
We will see Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari given a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox replacement.
After starting at the back of the grid at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, Hamilton came through with a strong race to finish in seventh. He finished each of the two previous races on the podium, and has expressed some disappointment at his finishes this year so far.
Nevertheless, the year has also seen some major revelations, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat putting their Renault-powered cars to the test. Last year was a difficult one for the team, which saw the outfit decide to end its relationship with the French manufacturers.
After talks and potential deals with both Mercedes and Ferrari failed to materialise, Red Bull Racing eventually decided on a one-year contract extension with Renault, who have also returned to Formula One as a works team.
Now, given repeatedly strong performances by both their drivers and a car that has had fewer reliability issues than even Ferrari in the 2016 season, our sources inform us that Red Bull may be looking for a contract extension.
Problems for Ferrari
Ferrari’s serious woes have continued into the Russian Grand Prix. After issues in both Australia and Bahrain, both Ferrari cars finished the race in China last fortnight, with Vettel making the podium. However, given only one driver each had a finish in the first two races, Ferrari will want to seriously address reliability issues.
Yesterday, Sebastian Vettel lost power completely in the second practice session after setting the fastest time for a period. Unfortunately, he was unable to improve on that time, with a powerful Lewis Hamilton coming back to take a thundering 0.6s march on his German rival.
Now, Vettel will have a five-place grid penalty for a new gearbox.
A return for Hamilton
Although Rosberg has a 36-point lead it’s Lewis Hamilton who looks to be the frontrunner at this Russian Grand Prix; he has won both iterations of the race so far. However, Vettel has been extremely pacey on the Sochi Street Circuit, which if Ferrari can sort out his engine issues will hold the champion in good stead come qualifying and race.
Hamilton, car number 44, will now look for his 44th race win. He will also look to equalise Niki Lauda’s 171 race starts this weekend.
Weather at the track will be dry, with no rain expected.
Tyre choices
Drivers will have supersoft, soft and medium compounds available. Although most teams went for pace on the supersofts, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo used the softs to great effect. The Australian steadily improved on laptimes as P2 progressed, and also managed to push his tyres to the limits, going 30 laps on his final set of softs with lower-than-expected tyre degradation.
Final practice commences at 2:30 p.m IST, with qualifying at 5:30 pm IST.
