Prac Three: Rosberg and Merc dominate

Editor

Mercedes head into qualifying for the Malaysian GP as the team to beat as Nico Rosberg was quickest in FP3, 0.2s up on Lewis Hamilton.

As many expected – and some feared – Mercedes had a clear advantage over the chasing pack in the final practice at the Sepang circuit.

Swapping to the medium Pirelli tyres in the final 20 minutes, Rosberg clocked a 1:39.008 to set the pace ahead of Hamilton.

The British driver was 0.232s down on his team-mate’s best but well ahead of third placed Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finnish driver’s best time, a 1:40.156, was 1.148s short of Rosberg’s P1 time while Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Red Bull Racing.

The German, who used a new front wing that features slots gaps that are much further apart than its predecessor, was a further two-tenths off the pace.

Nico Hulkenberg showed some pace in his Force India to finish fifth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were eighth and ninth ahead of Sergio Perez.

Meanwhile, it was a better day for Lotus in that Romain Grosjean managed 16 laps and Pastor Maldonado 20. Grosjean, though, was not happy and told his team “there is no performance” followed by “the rear end is a disaster”.

There were also issues for McLaren with Jenson Button covering just four laps and Kevin Magnussen five. Sensor problems meant neither driver could get the power out of their engines.

Times
01 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:39.008 13 laps
02 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:39.240 +0.232 13 laps
03 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:40.156 +1.148 13 laps
04 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:40.387 +1.379 14 laps
05 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:40.523 +1.515 15 laps
06 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:40.686 +1.678 14 laps
07 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:40.736 +1.728 14 laps
08 Felipe Massa Williams 1:40.781 +1.773 20 laps
09 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:40.891 +1.883 20 laps
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:41.029 +2.021 15 laps
11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:41.182 +2.174 18 laps
12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:41.441 +2.433 18 laps
13 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:41.552 +2.544 15 laps
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:42.041 +3.033 17 laps
15 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:42.749 +3.741 16 laps
16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:43.539 +4.531 20 laps
17 Max Chilton Marussia 1:43.977 +4.969 16 laps
18 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:44.170 +.162 18 laps
19 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:44.457 +5.449 12 laps
20 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:46.015 +7.007 7 laps
21 Jenson Button McLaren 2:05.555 +26.547 4 laps
22 Kevin Magnussen McLaren No time 5 laps