Hamilton quickest again as drain halts Bottas

2016 European Grand Prix third practice

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Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of practice sessions in Baku after waiting until the final moments to produce the quickest time.

His team mate Nico Rosberg had led the way throughout much of practice but Hamilton’s final effort put him ahead by a quarter of a second and left Mercedes’ rivals over 1.1s behind.

They were led by Nico Hulkenberg, who headed a tightly-knit bunch of ten cars covered by seven-tenths of a second. However Force India suffered a setback at the end of the session as Sergio Perez damaged the right-rear of his VJM09 when he hit the barrier at turn 15.

Daniel Ricciardo, who had the same crash as Perez 24 hours earlier, put Red Bull ahead of Ferrari by one hundredth of a second. Sebastian Vettel was the quickest of the red cars as team mate Kimi Raikkonen lost some running after reporting his car was not accelerating out of corners properly.

Jenson Button was the quickest of the McLaren drivers in eighth place. He complained on the radio about being impeded by Hamilton during his lap.

After a strong showing on Friday it was a frustrating session for Williams. Valtteri Bottas was unable to participate after a loose drain cover damaged the sidepod of his FW38. Felipe Massa was also delayed after brushing the turn 15 barrier.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’44.35217
26Nico RosbergMercedes1’44.6100.25822
327Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’45.5401.18818
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’45.6201.26813
55Sebastian VettelFerrari1’45.6301.27820
611Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’45.7351.38317
733Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’45.9011.54914
822Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’45.9541.60217
926Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Ferrari1’45.9811.62919
107Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’46.0241.67216
1114Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’46.1311.77916
1255Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’46.1901.83817
138Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’46.3612.00921
1419Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’46.5102.15820
1521Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’46.6702.31821
1620Kevin MagnussenRenault1’47.0242.67216
1794Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’47.1002.74819
1830Jolyon PalmerRenault1’47.1582.80618
199Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’47.3282.97614
2012Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’47.3793.02718
2188Rio HaryantoManor-Mercedes1’47.5563.20418

Third practice visual gaps

Lewis Hamilton – 1’44.352

+0.258 Nico Rosberg – 1’44.610

+1.188 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’45.540

+1.268 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’45.620

+1.278 Sebastian Vettel – 1’45.630

+1.383 Sergio Perez – 1’45.735

+1.549 Max Verstappen – 1’45.901

+1.602 Jenson Button – 1’45.954

+1.629 Daniil Kvyat – 1’45.981

+1.672 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’46.024

+1.779 Fernando Alonso – 1’46.131

+1.838 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’46.190

+2.009 Romain Grosjean – 1’46.361

+2.158 Felipe Massa – 1’46.510

+2.318 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’46.670

+2.672 Kevin Magnussen – 1’47.024

+2.748 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’47.100

+2.806 Jolyon Palmer – 1’47.158

+2.976 Marcus Ericsson – 1’47.328

+3.027 Felipe Nasr – 1’47.379

+3.204 Rio Haryanto – 1’47.556

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’44.2231’44.2231’44.352+0.12966
2Nico RosbergMercedes1’44.9131’44.9131’44.610-0.30363
3Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’45.3361’45.3361’45.735+0.39970
4Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’45.9201’45.9201’45.540-0.3870
5Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’47.7411’46.2931’45.620-0.67361
6Sebastian VettelFerrari1’46.2191’46.2191’45.630-0.58975
7Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’45.7641’45.76450
8Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’46.7771’46.0681’45.901-0.16766
9Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’46.2341’46.2341’45.954-0.2862
10Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Ferrari1’46.7441’46.7441’45.981-0.76372
11Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’46.6991’46.6941’46.024-0.6766
12Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’46.0271’46.0271’46.190+0.16368
13Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’46.8591’46.4981’46.131-0.36753
14Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’46.6811’46.6811’46.361-0.3264
15Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’47.0601’47.0601’46.510-0.5562
16Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’46.8301’46.8301’46.670-0.1662
17Kevin MagnussenRenault1’47.3291’47.3291’47.024-0.30572
18Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’48.0181’48.0181’47.100-0.91868
19Jolyon PalmerRenault1’47.7941’47.7941’47.158-0.63669
20Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’47.7721’47.328-0.44439
21Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’48.0811’48.0811’47.379-0.70271
22Rio HaryantoManor-Mercedes1’47.4871’47.4871’47.556+0.06963

2016 European Grand Prix

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2016 F1 practice sessions

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    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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    7 comments on “Hamilton quickest again as drain halts Bottas”

    1. Profile Photo

      Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
      18th June 2016, 12:08

      Any news on whether Perez and Bottas will be able to make qualifying? I missed the session unfortunately, and I still haven’t decided on my predictions ;)

    2. Profile Photo

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      18th June 2016, 12:09

      Regarding Button accusing Hamilton of impeding, remember Hamilton is one reprimand away from getting a ten-place grid penalty, and reprimands have been issued before for drivers who impede rivals during practice:

      https://www.racefans.net/statistics/2014-f1-statistics/2014-penalties-index/

      However there are probably worse places he could get such a penalty than this track, where Mercedes are probably going to find it very easy to overtake on the run from turn 16. And of course the stewards may decide it was a serious error and not give him a reprimand.

      1. Profile Photo

        Bob Steele (@bobwhosaysni)
        18th June 2016, 12:16

        When did Hamilton receive the earliest reprimands? Is it correct that they only last 12 months before being removed or have I got that wrong?

        1. Profile Photo

          Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
          18th June 2016, 12:20

          @bobwhosaysni Actually they are only counted during the season they are accrued (unlike penalty points which expire after 12 months). See here for Hamilton’s previous reprimands:

          https://www.racefans.net/2016-f1-season/statistics/penalties-index/

          1. kotrba
            18th June 2016, 12:43

            This year no one has received reprimand for impending in Free Practices, and I think we have seen a quite a few of them. I dont know where was Button impended, because director showed just the turn 5/6 but I cant see he would get a reprimand for that.

      2. Profile Photo

        Billys (@bilarxos)
        18th June 2016, 12:22

        keith , the FP1 & FP2 have almost the same time on the table !

        1. Stefano Bondani
          18th June 2016, 12:33

          @keithcollantine

    Comments are closed.