Canada, FP3: Rosberg heads final practice as Nasr crashes and Button stops
Hamilton slowest in final practice
Nico Rosberg went quickest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian as Sauber’s Felipe Nasr hit the wall and McLaren’s Jenson Button suffered a power unit issue that will keep him out of qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, struggled this morning, finishing the hour-long session in last place.
Once on track, Rosberg climbed to the top of the timesheets in the opening phase of the session on soft tyres, topping the times with a lap of 1:16.783 ahead of the Williams machines of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, with Sebastian Vettel fourth in front of Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat.
Rosberg’s time was them beaten by Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen who lapped in 1:16.761, while Lotus again showed well, with Romain Grosjean running just a thousandth of a second off Rosberg’s time.
Hamilton, meanwhile, was struggling to find a rhythm. He abandoned his first run on softs and was languishing in last place as the first red flag of the session appeared.
With 20 minutes left on the clock Nasr lost control as he tried to get heat into his tyres and slammed into the wall on the back straight.
When the debris had been cleared and the session re-started, the qualifying sims began on the superosft tyre.
Hamilton was one of the first out but the Briton outbraked himself into the first corner on his flying lap. Rosberg looked more comfortable, however, and posted a lap of 1:15.660 to head the times. Räikkönen then went second with his best lap, a 1:16.233, while Grojean hung on to third place with a lap of 1:16.772, 1.1s off Rosberg’s best time.
Then with six minutes remaining Button pulled over at the side of the track at Turn 7, with an ERS-related problem that will see him miss qualifying.
There were also engine problems for team-mate Fernando Alonso, who only managed three laps and for Max Verstappen whose car required an overnight power unit change. That means that the Dutch teenager will drop 10 places on the grid. The Toro Rosso man will already take a five-place penalty imposed following his Monaco collision with Grosjean.