FP3: Alonso pips Ricciardo

Editor

Fernando Alonso edged Daniel Ricciardo in the final practice for the Singapore GP while there were whispers that Mercedes were sandbagging.

The double World Champion, who set the pace in Friday’s first practice, clocked a 1:47.299 on his supersoft run to beat Ricciardo by 0.051s while Nico Rosberg was third fastest.

The German, who had been quicker on the soft Pirelli tyres earlier in the session, finished up with a 1:47.488.

Fourth place went to Jean-Eric Vergne, who is literally racing for his F1 career having been dropped by Toro Rosso for 2015, while Sebastian Vettel was fifth quickest having put in a late lap.

Surprisingly Lewis Hamilton could only manage the sixth best time having had a few issues.

Putting in the laps earlier on the soft tyres, he had a big moment at Turn 5 when he had a half spin after hitting a kerb and was lucky to avoid the barriers.

The Brit told his team that his engine had briefly stalled and that he used the clutch to restart it. A few laps later he reported that the “driveability is very bad at the moment.”

Hamilton’s best on the supersofts was 0.439s off the pace.

It was a better session for Williams as Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas was seventh and eighth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Gutierrez.

There were a few moments regarding the new ban on coaching drivers as Caterham almost fell foul as did Force India. In both cases the engineer realised what he was saying and stopped short.

The latter tweeted: “Just checking if @charlie_whiting is paying attention, folks. Nothing to see here. #RadioSilence.”

Times
01 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:47.299 12 laps
02 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:47.350 +0.051 15 laps
03 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:47.488 +0.189 15 laps
04 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:47.693 +0.394 17 laps
05 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:47.711 +0.412 17 laps
06 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:47.738 +0.439 12 laps
07 Felipe Massa Williams 1:47.909 +0.610 15 laps
08 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:48.205 +0.906 15 laps
09 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:48.226 +0.927 16 laps
10 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:48.422 +1.123 20 laps
11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:48.450 +1.151 11 laps
12 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:48.577 +1.278 9 laps
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:48.599 +1.300 16 laps
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:48.637 +1.338 18 laps
15 Sergio Perez Force India 1:49.078 +1.779 15 laps
16 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:49.115 +1.816 19 laps
17 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:49.485 +2.186 17 laps
18 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:50.149 +2.850 15 laps
19 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:50.376 +3.077 17 laps
20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:50.939 +3.640 17 laps
21 Max Chilton Marussia 1:51.221 +3.922 16 laps
22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:51.598 +4.299 17 laps