Lewis Hamilton topped practice for the third consecutive session in Monza ahead of qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion set the quickest time of the weekend from Friday with a 1’24.544, but it was the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel who was closest to the Mercedes driver, just over two tenths behind.
Overnight rain meant the Monza surface was still damp off-line as the cars ventured out for the first time in the morning on Intermediate tyres. With clear skies overhead, the on-track activity was limited for the first 30 minutes as the teams opted to wait for the track to dry out.
Fittingly, it was the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel who were first out on the track on dry tyres, with Vettel topping the times with a 1’25.799.
Despite already facing engine-related grid penalties for tomorrow, there were more problems for Red Bull when Daniel Ricciardo’s RB11 cruised to a stop at the Roggia chicane with just over 15 minutes remaining. Christian Horner confirmed after the session that the Australian had suffered a terminal engine failure.
The high braking demands of the Monza circuit saw a lot of drivers struggling to slow their cars for the track’s many chicanes with Rosberg, Carlos Sainz, Romain Grosjean and Roberto Merhi just some of the drivers who experienced significant lock ups.
The soft tyre runs in the final minutes saw Hamilton set the ultimate pace with a 1’24.544, with Vettel closest just over two tenths behind. Rosberg was less than a tenth off the Ferrari in third, followed by the two Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, with Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus sixth quickest.
Pos. | No. | Driver | Best lap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 1’24.544 | 18 |
2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | 1’24.808 | 12 |
3 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | 1’24.843 | 19 |
4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | 1’24.946 | 14 |
5 | 19 | Felipe Massa | 1’25.165 | 14 |
6 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | 1’25.242 | 11 |
7 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | 1’25.244 | 13 |
8 | 11 | Sergio Perez | 1’25.515 | 14 |
9 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | 1’25.692 | 17 |
10 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | 1’25.747 | 8 |
11 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | 1’25.912 | 17 |
12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 1’26.141 | 13 |
13 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 1’26.632 | 9 |
14 | 22 | Jenson Button | 1’26.750 | 14 |
15 | 28 | Will Stevens | 1’28.123 | 13 |
16 | 33 | Max Verstappen | 1’28.215 | 25 |
17 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | 1’28.591 | 10 |
18 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | 1’28.628 | 23 |
19 | 98 | Roberto Merhi | 1’29.117 | 11 |
20 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 1’29.900 | 7 |
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Frow1967
5th September 2015, 11:23
Just caught FP3 on sky and noticed McLaren running the old longer nose spec , any info on why they are doing this ??
Park
5th September 2015, 11:26
Lower drag, better front end.
Liam McShane (@)
5th September 2015, 11:26
It produces less drag than the shorter nose.
falconspatrol (@falconspatrol)
5th September 2015, 11:30
Less drag, just like ferrari were running the old sidepods
ColdFly F1 (@)
5th September 2015, 11:35
Longer nose was required by Geppetto as McLaren Honda has been caught lying about progress made so far!
Palle (@palle)
5th September 2015, 12:25
;-) Genius ColdFly F1
Albert
5th September 2015, 13:33
@coldfly Wow!
HK (@me4me)
5th September 2015, 11:38
Only two day’s ago Remi Traffin stated on Autosport: “Reliability problems are behind us now”. And now a brand new engine has broken down within hours of use. Also Motorsport.com reports the new PU is delayed and won’t be available until Austin. Absolutely pathetic.
Tyler (@tdog)
5th September 2015, 12:33
@@me4me Even better, according to Autosport, the upgraded engine is expected to produce – wait for it – another 6 to 7 hp.
Red Bull should definitely stick with Renault for another year.
mark p
5th September 2015, 12:46
Hard to understand how Renault were equal or better than Ferrari but now way behind a breaking. Same for Honda I can understand less performance but not engines breaking as last year Ferrari and Renault were also in 1st year but were more reliable than Honda. Had Ferrari made a few mistakes last year but knew how to fix but could not change anything due to the rules which basically cost the fans watching a better competition.
Engine limit for cost savings but Renault and Honda are using more engines than v8 era due to how complex they are and restrictions on improving so basically costs more and the fans have to see world class drivers at the back. In reality the engine restrictions are costing more money and ruining the show for the fans.
kpcart
5th September 2015, 13:01
the engines have proved more costly, they sound worse, they have made the sport harder to watch as only one team wins, the last part – this has happened before, yes, but in those other dominant eras the other teams had a fairer chance at catching up. without testing, the engine manufacturers are spending more money to try to make small gains within a stupidly narrow limit of development. the only people enjoying these knew engines are Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and their fans. I don’t even bother watching qualifying anymore, it is too predictable and boring.
anon
5th September 2015, 14:18
mark p, neither of the affected teams are being hit financially given that they are not paying for the engines in the first place – the cost is being borne by their engine suppliers.
Thanks to the fact that Honda is putting money into the team and supplying free engines, McLaren are actually financially better off than in 2014 (when they had to pay Mercedes for their engines) – they even commented in their financial accounts for 2014 that they were expecting their financial performance to increase for 2015 because they were partnering with Honda.
As for Red Bull, they have been receiving free engines for an extended period of time in return for the Infiniti branding – Renault had already commented how, under the V8 regulations, they were effectively writing off $60 million a year as a result of the engine cost caps and having to underwrite the cost of Red Bull’s engines.