Mercedes still on top as Vettel spins

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix third practice

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Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two for the third consecutive practice session in Bahrain.

But the gap between the two W05s narrowed in the final hour of running before qualifying. The pair traded fastest sectors with Hamilton emerging on top by less than a tenth of a second.

Mercedes-powered cars led the way in the final practice session with seven of them inside the top eight. Sergio Perez got closest to the works team’s pace, lapping half a second off Hamilton’s time in his Force India.

The Williams drivers again left it until late in the session to set their flying times on soft tyres. Valtteri Bottas was the quicker of the pair with Feliepe Massa joining him in the top five.

Jenson Button was sixth followed by the first car to be powered by something other than a Mercedes – Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari. Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Force India.

Daniil Kvyat and Kimi Raikkonen completed a top ten in which neither of the Red Bull cars featured.

There was 20 minutes left to run in the session when Sebastian Vettel’s running came to an early end. The world champion spun his car in the middle of turn two and skidded into a gravel trap on the outside of the next corner.

Vettel had also been one of several drivers to take to the run-off at turn 11 as they struggled to get their cars turned in to the long left-hander.

Kamui Kobayashi and Jules Bianchi ended the session ahead of both Lotus drivers. An unhappy Romain Grosjean repeatedly complained on the radio about his car’s lack of grip.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’35.32412
26Nico RosbergMercedes1’35.4290.10512
311Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’35.8680.54410
477Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’36.1160.79210
519Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’36.3641.0408
622Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’36.3941.0708
714Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’36.4541.13012
827Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’36.4551.13111
926Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’36.6801.35616
107Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’36.7721.44813
1120Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1’36.8221.4988
1225Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’37.0301.70611
133Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’37.1191.79511
1421Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’37.3252.00118
1599Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’38.0892.76524
1610Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault1’38.4003.07617
1717Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1’38.7363.41215
1813Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1’38.8803.55621
199Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1’38.9713.64718
208Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’39.2083.88417
211Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’39.2253.9018
224Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1’39.5974.27314

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’37.5021’34.3251’35.324+0.99954
2Nico RosbergMercedes1’37.7331’34.6901’35.429+0.73956
3Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’37.9531’35.3601’36.454+1.09457
4Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’40.4061’35.4331’37.119+1.68658
5Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’39.5331’35.4421’36.364+0.92232
6Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’38.6361’35.5281’36.394+0.86645
7Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’39.3891’35.6061’39.225+3.61954
8Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’39.0561’35.6401’36.680+1.0471
9Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1’38.9491’35.6621’36.822+1.1645
10Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’39.1021’35.8021’35.868+0.06671
11Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’35.9201’36.116+0.19619
12Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’39.8621’35.9721’37.030+1.05870
13Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’38.7831’36.3661’36.772+0.40658
14Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’38.1221’36.9981’36.455-0.54339
15Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’40.6521’36.9621’38.089+1.12757
16Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’36.9751’37.325+0.3553
17Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault1’40.7931’37.2591’38.880+1.62177
18Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’41.0361’37.5991’39.208+1.60964
19Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1’40.8891’37.8001’38.736+0.93650
20Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1’41.7941’38.2471’39.597+1.3544
21Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault1’38.2571’38.400+0.14350
22Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1’42.7111’39.1361’38.971-0.16569
23Felipe NasrWilliams-Mercedes1’40.07614
24Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’40.91320
25Robin FrijnsSauber-Ferrari1’42.41735

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “Mercedes still on top as Vettel spins”

  1. Top 12, 8 Mercedes.
    I think that the only question is Rosberg or Hamilton on qual? I recon Ham…
    The rest its just the same, nice times from Hulk and Kvyatt..

    1. Hamilton I think, he just seems to have that little bit of extra speed all the time. I would love a surprise though and to see Mercedes then have to fight from further down the field.

    2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      5th April 2014, 14:44

      Hulk has a good chance of getting on the podium I reckon. Perhaps only the Mclaren’s and/or Ferarri’s stand in his way.

    3. It makes me wonder if we are going to see all the Mercedes-powered car in Q3. I think it could happen, to be honest.
      That said, the conditions are going to be very different, maybe Ferrari and Red Bull will bounce back.

  2. Looking forward for in-team battle!

  3. Kvyat real find of the season

  4. Anyone still doubting that Kvyat was the right choice for Toro Rosso? Lol

    1. I suppose you can’t really answer that with any certainty, but yeah he is looking good (as I thought he would after seeing his GP3 performances) :P

      1. Not taking anything away from Kvyat, nor any new driver, but I’ll reserve my judgement for a time when we can see how he handles pressure when it is at it’s greatest.

      2. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        5th April 2014, 15:47

        @vettel1 – Kvyat’s GP3 season was one of two halves, with a dominant second half following an anonymous first half. Worryingly though, Kvyat’s form climbed in tandem with his Arden teammates, suggesting that much of Kvyat’s speed was in Arden’s form in GP3, whilst Da Costa’s struggles, as well as those of teammate Pietro Fantin, suggest an Arden out of sorts in FR3.5.

    2. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
      5th April 2014, 15:40

      @strifeforce – Whilst Daniil is doing a decent job, the reference in question, Vergne, is pretty mediocre. Da Costa would have still been my choice.

    3. I’ve been seriously impressed by Kvyat so far, the fact that he’s scored points with such little fuss surely means he’s definitely going to improve as well. I feel sorry for people who wrote him off as a pay driver!

  5. the Prediction would be easy. I’m afraid whether Ferrari is weakened…

  6. Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome to the 2009 Formula One Season!
    Maybe in the second half anybody can catch us, but it will be tooooo late… mwahahahaaaa

    1. It’s Red Bull playing catch-up to “Brawn” all over again :P

  7. Alonso showing Kimi who’s boss again.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      5th April 2014, 15:18

      2 very different driving styles, the car can only suit one perfectly.

    2. @john-h In quali Kimi showing Alonso who’s boss again.

      1. @huhhii I knew that would happen right after I posted it! Credit to Kimi.

  8. Nice form from Checo, I hope he can keep it up through the weekend and soundly beat Hulk.

    1. I’m an fan of Hülkenberg, but I too hope Perez will have a good weekend. His practice times look really promising! Force India need to maximize their points considering the other, better-funded teams probably will out-develop them later in the season.

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