Vettel leads final practice as Raikkonen crashes

2015 Monaco Grand Prix third practice

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Sebastian Vettel put Ferrari on top in final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix but Kimi Raikkonen crashed the team’s other car.

Raikkonen slid wide at Sainte Devote mid-way through the session and hit the barrier with his left-rear wheel. The damaged Ferrari came to a stop at the opposite side of the track and the session had to be stopped while it was recovered.

The two Mercedes were next, Nico Rosberg ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The latter headed much of the final practice session but told his team on the radio something was “not right” with his car, a problem race engineer Peter Bonnington suspected was due to his tyres being over-pressured.

Daniel Ricciardo was fourth for Red Bull ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr, whose team mate Max Verstappen was another driver to make contact with the wall. Verstappen spun backwards into the barrier at Anthony Noghes, damaging a rear end plate on his Toro Rosso, but was able to continue.

Despite his crash Raikkonen ended the session seventh ahead of Daniil Kvyat and the McLaren of Jenson Button. Verstappen and Romain Grosjean, who will take a five-place grid penalty, completed the top ten.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelFerrari1’16.14327
26Nico RosbergMercedes1’16.3610.21831
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’16.7050.56231
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’17.1200.97726
555Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’17.2561.11339
67Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’17.4011.25811
726Daniil KvyatRed Bull-Renault1’17.4711.32828
822Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’17.7671.62428
933Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Renault1’17.7881.64523
108Romain GrosjeanLotus-Mercedes1’17.8061.66328
1111Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’17.8321.68930
1213Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Mercedes1’17.9561.81328
1327Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’18.1021.95932
1414Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’18.1972.05426
1577Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’18.2122.06929
1619Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’18.2422.09932
1712Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’18.7672.62438
189Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’19.2693.12637
1928Will StevensManor-Ferrari1’21.0934.95031
2098Roberto MerhiManor-Ferrari1’22.2256.08230

Third practice visual gaps

Sebastian Vettel – 1’16.143

+0.218 Nico Rosberg – 1’16.361

+0.562 Lewis Hamilton – 1’16.705

+0.977 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’17.120

+1.113 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’17.256

+1.258 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’17.401

+1.328 Daniil Kvyat – 1’17.471

+1.624 Jenson Button – 1’17.767

+1.645 Max Verstappen – 1’17.788

+1.663 Romain Grosjean – 1’17.806

+1.689 Sergio Perez – 1’17.832

+1.813 Pastor Maldonado – 1’17.956

+1.959 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’18.102

+2.054 Fernando Alonso – 1’18.197

+2.069 Valtteri Bottas – 1’18.212

+2.099 Felipe Massa – 1’18.242

+2.624 Felipe Nasr – 1’18.767

+3.126 Marcus Ericsson – 1’19.269

+4.950 Will Stevens – 1’21.093

+6.082 Roberto Merhi – 1’22.225

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Sebastian VettelFerrari1’19.1341’18.2951’16.143-2.15272
2Nico RosbergMercedes1’19.7621’17.9321’16.361-1.57194
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’18.7501’17.1921’16.705-0.48792
4Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’19.0861’19.6391’17.120-1.96666
5Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’19.2451’18.6591’17.256-1.40393
6Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’19.6791’18.5431’17.401-1.14257
7Daniil KvyatRed Bull-Renault1’19.5201’18.5481’17.471-1.07777
8Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’20.2021’19.6061’17.767-1.83957
9Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Renault1’18.8991’18.7821’17.788-0.99477
10Romain GrosjeanLotus-Mercedes1’20.2741’19.2661’17.806-1.4675
11Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’20.6491’19.3001’17.832-1.46878
12Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Mercedes1’19.4541’19.5771’17.956-1.49876
13Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’20.7841’19.1511’18.102-1.04979
14Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’19.7911’18.9061’18.197-0.70972
15Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’20.9171’19.5661’18.212-1.35479
16Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’19.7661’19.5601’18.242-1.31879
17Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’20.8571’20.2631’18.767-1.49672
18Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’21.2191’19.269-1.9562
19Will StevensManor-Ferrari1’23.2341’22.9431’21.093-1.8572
20Roberto MerhiManor-Ferrari1’23.4041’22.0171’22.225+0.20870

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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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6 comments on “Vettel leads final practice as Raikkonen crashes”

  1. Would be cool to see a Ferrari pole – but guessing the Mercs will find the couple of tenths they usually do.

  2. Great performance from Vettel and Ferrari!

  3. Williams really slow.

    1. Yes, looking like two years running of very poor Monaco performance.

  4. Rosberg must be happy with team mates problems.

  5. Räikkönen has done a great job preserving his 2014 performance level. The real difference is that he now has to push, seeing as he can’t plausibly blame his speed (or lack thereof) on the car anymore.

Comments are closed.