The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets ahead of the two Mercedes as teams prepared for qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Raikkonen’s 1’20.214 was the fastest time of the weekend so far, two tenths quicker than his championship leading team mate and three tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in third.
But it wasn’t all promising for Ferrari, with Vettel stopping in the pitlane after being told to turn his engine off late in the session. It would be the second such stoppage for Vettel in two days.
After Mercedes discovered a water leak on Valtteri Bottas following an overnight engine change, the Russian Grand Prix winner was forced to sit out the majority of the session, eventually taking to the circuit with only eight minutes remaining. Bottas recorded the fourth-fastest time of the session, three tenths off his team mate.
Red Bull again occupied the fifth and sixth places on the table with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo respectively, just under a second off the ultimate pace.
Nico Hulkenberg was seventh-fastest for Renault, comfortably quicker than team mate Jolyon Palmer once again.
McLaren enjoyed a productive session with no repeat of the engine troubles that compromised Fernando Alonso on Friday, with the local hero recording the tenth-quickest time.
All times were set on the Soft compound tyres as teams prepared for this afternoon’s qualifying session.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’20.214 | 20 | |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’20.456 | 0.242 | 7 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’20.595 | 0.381 | 12 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’20.868 | 0.654 | 7 |
| 5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’21.025 | 0.811 | 14 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’21.249 | 1.035 | 15 |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’21.670 | 1.456 | 13 |
| 8 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’21.746 | 1.532 | 19 |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’21.835 | 1.621 | 19 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’22.093 | 1.879 | 16 |
| 11 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’22.128 | 1.914 | 21 |
| 12 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’22.214 | 2.000 | 12 |
| 13 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’22.237 | 2.023 | 19 |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’22.297 | 2.083 | 22 |
| 15 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’22.391 | 2.177 | 15 |
| 16 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’22.513 | 2.299 | 20 |
| 17 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.574 | 2.360 | 19 |
| 18 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’22.755 | 2.541 | 13 |
| 19 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’22.853 | 2.639 | 15 |
| 20 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’22.974 | 2.760 | 19 |
Third practice visual gaps
Kimi Raikkonen – 1’20.214
+0.242 Sebastian Vettel – 1’20.456
+0.381 Lewis Hamilton – 1’20.595
+0.654 Valtteri Bottas – 1’20.868
+0.811 Max Verstappen – 1’21.025
+1.035 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’21.249
+1.456 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’21.670
+1.532 Felipe Massa – 1’21.746
+1.621 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’21.835
+1.879 Fernando Alonso – 1’22.093
+1.914 Romain Grosjean – 1’22.128
+2.000 Kevin Magnussen – 1’22.214
+2.023 Sergio Perez – 1’22.237
+2.083 Esteban Ocon – 1’22.297
+2.177 Daniil Kvyat – 1’22.391
+2.299 Marcus Ericsson – 1’22.513
+2.360 Lance Stroll – 1’22.574
+2.541 Jolyon Palmer – 1’22.755
+2.639 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’22.853
+2.760 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’22.974
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’22.456 | 1’21.112 | 1’20.214 | -0.898 | 78 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’22.600 | 1’21.220 | 1’20.456 | -0.764 | 66 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’21.521 | 1’20.802 | 1’20.595 | -0.207 | 79 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’21.550 | 1’20.892 | 1’20.868 | -0.024 | 75 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’22.706 | 1’21.438 | 1’21.025 | -0.413 | 65 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’23.084 | 1’21.585 | 1’21.249 | -0.336 | 67 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’23.993 | 1’21.687 | 1’21.670 | -0.017 | 77 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’24.618 | 1’22.015 | 1’21.746 | -0.269 | 91 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’24.004 | 1’22.265 | 1’21.835 | -0.43 | 74 |
| 10 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’21.992 | 1’22.755 | +0.763 | 56 | |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’24.077 | 1’22.093 | -1.984 | 38 | |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’23.758 | 1’22.371 | 1’22.128 | -0.243 | 80 |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’23.670 | 1’23.007 | 1’22.214 | -0.793 | 66 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’24.188 | 1’22.722 | 1’22.237 | -0.485 | 74 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’24.324 | 1’22.520 | 1’22.297 | -0.223 | 81 |
| 16 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’24.642 | 1’23.236 | 1’22.391 | -0.845 | 60 |
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’24.966 | 1’23.082 | 1’22.513 | -0.569 | 80 |
| 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’25.919 | 1’23.221 | 1’22.574 | -0.647 | 88 |
| 19 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’24.400 | 1’22.693 | 1’22.853 | +0.16 | 75 |
| 20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’25.182 | 1’23.599 | 1’22.974 | -0.625 | 74 |
| 21 | Sergey Sirotkin | Renault | 1’26.293 | 10 |
Don’t forget your Predictions Championship entry
Enter your predictions for this weekend’s race before qualifying begins:
MG421982 (@)
13th May 2017, 11:02
Hmmm… could it be a RAI pole??!!
Just as I thought, RBR still miles away, so I don’t see any 3-way fight be it Quali, be it Race!
Todfod (@todfod)
13th May 2017, 11:15
It’s going to be a difficult one for the Predictions championship.
Yesterday, I put Hamilton pole and Mercedes 1-2 on Sunday. Now…. I’m thinking Kimi might get in the mix… or maybe he’ll drop the ball as usual and finish behind Vettel… Aaargh!
Probably going to take a risk and go with Hamilton pole, followed by a HAM RAI VET BOT VER finish.
evered7 (@evered7)
13th May 2017, 11:31
It will be a Mercedes pole. Look at the lap time gain. Merc haven’t fully utilized their package. Ferrari seem to have shown their hands.
caci99 (@)
13th May 2017, 11:47
I am looking at their lap time and it doesn’t tell me if they have utilised the whole package. How can you tell that? Mercedes might get the pole, but your argument looking at lap time does not tell anything rather that they are behind after FP3.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
13th May 2017, 11:04
Alonso 10th, if he were in a Merc Alonso first daylight second.
Markp
13th May 2017, 11:08
Doesnt always work in a linear fashion. He would be against Hamilton and quali was very close when they were together.
Todfod (@todfod)
13th May 2017, 11:16
He just showed the Higgs Boson particle how it’s done.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th May 2017, 11:19
That was at Indy @todfod where he gave mass to all media around him.
Todfod (@todfod)
13th May 2017, 15:07
@peartree Ha! Nice one
Xaerun
13th May 2017, 11:06
Someone tell FOM to change that shoulder cam angle and go back to the T-cam on all cars.
Dr. Jekyll (@dr-jekyll)
13th May 2017, 11:31
I love the shoulder camera angle, the T-cam is too stable imo and makes the cars seem a lot slower
Xaerun
13th May 2017, 11:51
The T-cam is always the best. The low angle is for being as close as what the driver sees, but it’s unnecessary and wrong actually because the angle zooms in too much. T-cam works much better in terms of giving you the perfect sense of speed and it let us see more of what the driver is doing.
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
13th May 2017, 11:09
I feel like that’s quite embarrassing for Palmer, Stroll and Vandoorne. Especially Palmer, given that it seems to be quite a consistent gap between sessions.
banana88x (@banana88x)
13th May 2017, 11:19
Especially Vandoorne was so highly rated pre-season. Palmer and Stroll are not really surprising…
dex022 (@dex022)
13th May 2017, 11:19
Did you watch the session? On his last run he got blocked very heavy by K.Mag(for the nth time he is involved in some kind of incident) and Palmer had to abort. Not a Palmer fan but just to get things straight.
anon
13th May 2017, 12:26
@jamiefranklinf1, whilst I am not a fan of Palmer, I wouldn’t say that it is a consistent gap given that the gap between Hulkenberg and Palmer in FP2 was three tenths of a second (markedly less than in FP3). It looks more like a case of Palmer setting a poor lap time in FP3 than Hulkenberg doing a good job, since Hulkenberg failed to improve on his FP2 lap time in FP3.
NeutronStar
13th May 2017, 12:30
Palmer got held up in what was supposed to be his best lap. Regarding Hulkenberg…he did improve in FP3 relative to FP2, but only by 0.017 sec. One would expect more…
Still, let’s see how Palmer and Hulk fare in qualifying.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th May 2017, 11:18
Still think the B spec Mercedes is going to do it, they are almost as good as Ferrari on T3, and better elsewhere.
ben (@djdapimp)
13th May 2017, 11:47
Bwoah!!
Markp
13th May 2017, 11:53
Merc front row, best Ferrari 0.3 from pole. The pattern of this weekend feels like Australia so I am baseing my guess on that.