Mercedes flex their muscles in final practice

2016 Italian Grand Prix third practice

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Only one of Mercedes’ rivals managed to lap within a second of the flying W07s in the final practice session for the Italian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton set a benchmark time of 1’22.008 with a quarter of an hour remaining in the session. Nico Rosberg who set his time moments earlier, was almost four-tenths down on his team mate.

The Ferrari drivers took to the track in the final minutes in the hope of narrowing the gap to Mercedes but the result was a yawning margin of almost a second between Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen was a couple of tenths off his team mate’s pace.

Having conserved their pace on Friday as usual, Williams stepped up to become the third-fastest team in the last hour of running before qualifying. The symmetry continued with the two Red Bull drivers seventh and eighth fastest, Daniel Ricciardo fractionally quicker than Max Verstappen, who held up Rosberg early in the session.

Esteban Gutierrez prevented Force India from occupying both of the final places in the top ten, pipping Nico Hulkenberg by seven-thousandths of a second. His team mate Romain Grosjean spun off early in the session at Ascari, blaming a gearbox problem.

Despite a high-sped trip through the gravel trap at Parabolica Jolyon Palmer moved up from the slowest time yesterday to 15th-fastest.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’22.00814
26Nico RosbergMercedes1’22.4010.39317
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1’22.9460.93813
47Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’23.1491.14112
577Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’23.5001.49220
619Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’23.6471.63919
73Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’23.7091.70123
833Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’23.7401.73221
911Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’23.9171.90920
1021Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’24.0342.02615
1127Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’24.0412.03321
1222Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’24.1042.09611
1355Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’24.2402.23217
148Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’24.4632.4554
1530Jolyon PalmerRenault1’24.5332.52513
169Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’24.5422.53420
1714Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’24.6582.65012
1812Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’24.7152.70719
1920Kevin MagnussenRenault1’24.7932.78512
2026Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Ferrari1’24.8452.83717
2194Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’24.8932.88519
2231Esteban OconManor-Mercedes1’24.9382.93015

Third practice visual gaps

Lewis Hamilton – 1’22.008

+0.393 Nico Rosberg – 1’22.401

+0.938 Sebastian Vettel – 1’22.946

+1.141 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’23.149

+1.492 Valtteri Bottas – 1’23.500

+1.639 Felipe Massa – 1’23.647

+1.701 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’23.709

+1.732 Max Verstappen – 1’23.740

+1.909 Sergio Perez – 1’23.917

+2.026 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’24.034

+2.033 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’24.041

+2.096 Jenson Button – 1’24.104

+2.232 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’24.240

+2.455 Romain Grosjean – 1’24.463

+2.525 Jolyon Palmer – 1’24.533

+2.534 Marcus Ericsson – 1’24.542

+2.650 Fernando Alonso – 1’24.658

+2.707 Felipe Nasr – 1’24.715

+2.785 Kevin Magnussen – 1’24.793

+2.837 Daniil Kvyat – 1’24.845

+2.885 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’24.893

+2.930 Esteban Ocon – 1’24.938

Complete practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’23.1621’22.8011’22.008-0.79390
2Nico RosbergMercedes1’22.9591’22.9941’22.401-0.55896
3Sebastian VettelFerrari1’24.3071’23.2541’22.946-0.30862
4Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’24.0471’23.4271’23.149-0.27856
5Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’24.7851’24.2991’23.500-0.79997
6Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’25.8401’24.5561’23.647-0.90956
7Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’25.1201’24.0031’23.709-0.29472
8Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’24.9821’23.7321’23.740+0.00870
9Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’24.6501’24.6531’23.917-0.73393
10Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’25.1131’24.6741’24.034-0.6467
11Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’24.5871’24.041-0.54661
12Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’25.3511’24.5491’24.104-0.44562
13Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.9731’25.2401’24.240-168
14Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’25.5071’24.2591’24.658+0.39950
15Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’24.7631’24.5161’24.463-0.05355
16Jolyon PalmerRenault1’26.8111’25.8331’24.533-1.392
17Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’25.8531’24.9811’24.542-0.43965
18Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’26.4391’25.6431’24.715-0.92871
19Kevin MagnussenRenault1’26.9561’25.5551’24.793-0.76283
20Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Ferrari1’26.0741’25.6141’24.845-0.76970
21Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’26.7621’25.0831’24.893-0.1984
22Esteban OconManor-Mercedes1’26.3911’25.2751’24.938-0.33758
23Alfonso CelisForce India-Mercedes1’25.36730

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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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11 comments on “Mercedes flex their muscles in final practice”

  1. Although they say ‘never say never’ in sport, I feel like Monza could be a bore-fest at least today. I am thinking more of catching up MotoGP qualifying and Formula 1 on a busy race weekend!

    1. The Predictions Championship is getting a bit one-sided too. Here’s me hoping for an eventful race with an unexpected outcome!

    2. Always MotoGP

  2. rather than Formula 1*

  3. Let’s hope with 2017 regs we have multiple winners from different teams. Good luck to Mercedes but this is getting painful to watch.

  4. I thought the Manor’s would have been quicker here. Their relative lack of DF usually cutting through the air with less drag.

    1. I’m also very surprised. that car should be quicker than STR, Renault, Sauber and closer to McLaren and Haas

  5. ”Meant” Hamilton flexes his muscles..

  6. first 4-5 teams basically in order for teammate times… shows this is one of the easiest tracks in f1 like drivers have said over the years. I hope can Ferrari can get a good start, turn one might be the only interesting part of the race tomorrow.

  7. Oh, wow, RBR not the 2nd best team anymore?!?

    1. I think it’s a ”track-specific” thing.

Comments are closed.