Rosberg quickest after crash halts final practice

2015 Russian Grand Prix third practice

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Final practice for the Russian Grand Prix was headed by Nico Rosberg after it was stopped early due to a major crash involving Carlos Sainz Jnr.

Sainz made heavy contact with the barriers at turn 13 with 25 minutes remaining in the session. Proceedings were immediately halted but with substantial damage to the barrier race control swiftly announced the session would not resume.

Rosberg had set the quickest time until that point using the super-soft tyres. Lewis Hamilton began his stint on the softer compound shortly before Sainz’s crash and had just set the third-fastest time.

The Williams pair headed the session until that point, Valtteri Bottas ending up between the two Mercedes drivers. Team mate Felipe Massa reported an engine problem early in proceedings but soon rejoined the track and was able to lap competitively.

Sainz had set his two personal best sectors times prior to his crash. Team mate Max Verstappen ended the session 17th after spinning at the final corner.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
16Nico RosbergMercedes1’38.56115
277Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’39.2870.72617
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’39.3630.80213
411Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’39.6161.05514
519Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’39.8751.31414
627Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’39.9171.35614
722Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’40.5812.02012
813Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Mercedes1’40.7672.20613
914Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’41.2002.63911
1012Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’41.2292.66814
1126Daniil KvyatRed Bull-Renault1’41.3582.79715
127Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’42.2973.73611
138Romain GrosjeanLotus-Mercedes1’42.3713.81014
149Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’42.4503.88914
1555Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’42.6834.12219
165Sebastian VettelFerrari1’42.6864.12511
1733Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Renault1’43.0894.52816
183Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’43.3474.78614
1998Roberto MerhiManor-Ferrari1’46.7678.20619
2028Will StevensManor-Ferrari1’47.2498.68818

Third practice visual gaps

Nico Rosberg – 1’38.561

+0.726 Valtteri Bottas – 1’39.287

+0.802 Lewis Hamilton – 1’39.363

+1.055 Sergio Perez – 1’39.616

+1.314 Felipe Massa – 1’39.875

+1.356 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’39.917

+2.020 Jenson Button – 1’40.581

+2.206 Pastor Maldonado – 1’40.767

+2.639 Fernando Alonso – 1’41.200

+2.668 Felipe Nasr – 1’41.229

+2.797 Daniil Kvyat – 1’41.358

+3.736 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’42.297

+3.810 Romain Grosjean – 1’42.371

+3.889 Marcus Ericsson – 1’42.450

+4.122 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’42.683

+4.125 Sebastian Vettel – 1’42.686

+4.528 Max Verstappen – 1’43.089

+4.786 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’43.347

+8.206 Roberto Merhi – 1’46.767

+8.688 Will Stevens – 1’47.249

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Nico RosbergMercedes1’44.4071’38.561-5.84636
2Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’45.7462’00.6881’39.287-6.45938
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’45.6911’39.363-6.32826
4Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’45.1461’39.616-5.5328
5Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’46.3332’00.4581’39.875-6.45832
6Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’44.3551’39.917-4.43828
7Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’46.2312’02.8451’40.581-5.6532
8Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Mercedes1’48.0061’40.767-7.23922
9Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’47.4432’01.0771’41.200-6.24339
10Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’46.7471’41.229-5.51827
11Daniil KvyatRed Bull-Renault1’48.0962’01.4181’41.358-6.73830
12Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’46.2151’42.297-3.91827
13Romain GrosjeanLotus-Mercedes1’42.37114
14Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’54.2721’42.450-11.82229
15Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’45.4882’02.8051’42.683-2.80539
16Sebastian VettelFerrari1’44.9862’00.6591’42.686-2.334
17Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Renault1’46.2032’00.8061’43.089-3.11436
18Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’45.2331’43.347-1.88625
19Roberto MerhiManor-Ferrari1’52.9941’46.767-6.22731
20Will StevensManor-Ferrari1’58.2541’47.249-11.00524
21Jolyon PalmerLotus-Mercedes1’49.0949

Author information

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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5 comments on “Rosberg quickest after crash halts final practice”

  1. Another tough round for the predictions.

    I didn’t watch the sessions, how far off are Ferrari?

    1. from the sessions its pretty hard to say. It looked like only Williams had started to do some quick laps, Rosberg managed to get one in, Hamilton made some mistakes on his, but Ferrari had done only race preparation laps.

      However I would say that the teams are reasonably close to eachother, but the Mercedes seemed to have an easier job getting the ss tyres up to temperature on their first laps

    2. I just went for a generic Mercedes > Ferrari/Williams/Red Bull top 5, don’t think you can go far wrong tbh :P

      1. With Red Bull on this track – yes, you can. I may be wrong, but judging from last year’s experience, this is not a track where they will find any kind of happiness.

  2. Formula One, Hülkenberg-style. Let’s see how it works.

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