Sakhir, FP3: Vettel heads Ferrari 1-2 in final practice

Ferrari hits back to lead Mercedes in FP3

By Franck Drui

2 April 2016 - 15:05
Sakhir, FP3: Vettel heads Ferrari (…)

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of final practice in Bahrain ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari took the fight to Mercedes ahead of qualifying at the Sakhir Circuit.

With just over 10 minutes left on the clock, the Mercedes drivers took to the track on the red-banded supersoft tyre for their qualifying runs. Nico Rosberg immediately jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:32.104, with Lewis Hamilton quickly slotting into P2 with a lap just five hundredths of a second adrift of the Australian Grand Prix winner.

It looked like a repeat of a familiar pattern but just two minutes later Kimi Raikkonen shattered that notion as his supersoft run yielded a P1 time of 1:31.723, almost four tenths clear of Rosberg’s benchmark.

There was more to come from Ferrari, too, as Vettel then set off on his run. With session-best times in sectors one and three, the four-time champion just edged his team-mate to top spot, finishing just four hundredths of a second clear of Raikkonen. Vettel’s lap time of 1:31.683 was good enough to put him 0.421 clear of Rosberg.

The result will give Ferrari hope of running Mercedes close in qualifying, though Vettel’s time in final practice was still 0.6s off the P1 pace set by Rosberg in FP2. FP3 was also run in considerably higher temperatures than yesterday’s sessions, a trait that suited Ferrari last year. Qualifying, though, will be run in considerably cooler temperatures tonight, which could swing the pendulum back in favour of the Silver Arrows.

Behind the Ferraris and Mercedes, fifth place went to Williams Valtteri Bottas, while Romain Grosjean gave new squad Haas hope of a good qualifying with a surprise sixth place. The Frenchman, who handed the team points on its debut in Australia a fortnight ago, set a time of 1:33.082 to eclipse Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat, Haas team-mate Esteban Gutierrez, the second Williams of Felipe Massa and the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who set his best time on the supersoft tyre in the first half of the session.

Elsewhere, both Toro Rosso and Force India chose not to set times on supersoft tyres, a choice matched by Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein.

McLaren stand-in Stoffel Vandoorne had a troubled session. The Belgian’s car suffered and oil leak and he was garage-bound for much of the session. He recovered late on to set the 14th fastest time, just 0.04s adrift of team-mate Jenson Button.

Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, too, encountered difficulties. He ended the session with a rear puncture, which left him limping back to the pits in P20 ahead of the Manor cars.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.683 22
02 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:31.723 13
03 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:32.104 18
04 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:32.160 14
05 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1:32.675 18
06 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:33.082 14
07 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:33.113 10
08 Esteban Gutierrez Haas Ferrari 1:33.337 14
09 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:33.363 18
10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:33.519 20
11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:33.569 16
12 Kevin Magnussen Renault F1 1:33.617 9
13 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1:33.704 12
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:33.744 11
15 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:33.778 20
16 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:34.003 20
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1:34.013 15
18 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1:34.128 16
19 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:34.281 15
20 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 1:34.424 9
21 Rio Haryanto Manor Mercedes 1:35.546 15
22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes 1:35.724 16

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