Ferrari one-two in final practice as Mercedes close the gap

2017 Malaysian Grand Prix third practice

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Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two in the final practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix as Mercedes made some progress in reducing the deficit they had yesterday.

However it wasn’t a trouble-free session for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel toured slowly into the pits at the end of the session.

Raikkonen led his team mate by a tenth of a second with Daniel Ricciardo in close attendance in his Red Bull. His team mate was four-tenths of a second back following an incident with Jolyon Palmer at the end of the session.

Verstappen had backed off approaching the final corner when he was caught by Palmer, who was on a flying lap. The Renault driver tried to squeeze down the inside of Verstappen’s car but the pair made contact, removing part of Palmer’s front wing and leaving Verstappen with a puncture.

The two Mercedes separated the Red Bull pair. Valtteri Bottas was four-tenths of a second down on Raikkonen, Hamilton a further two-tenths down following a scruffy final run.

Both Force Indias appeared in the top ten, separated by Felipe Massa’s Williams. Stoffel Vandoorne edged team mate Fernando Alonso out for tenth.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
17Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’31.88019
25Sebastian VettelFerrari1’32.0420.16214
33Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’32.0910.21116
477Valtteri BottasMercedes1’32.3290.44924
544Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’32.5390.65920
633Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’32.5790.69917
711Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’33.2091.32920
819Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’33.2401.36020
931Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’33.2901.41021
102Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’33.3211.44116
1114Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’33.5301.65017
1218Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’33.5381.65821
1320Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’33.7871.90710
1427Nico HulkenbergRenault1’33.8711.99114
1555Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’33.9242.04422
1610Pierre GaslyToro Rosso-Renault1’34.2062.32624
1730Jolyon PalmerRenault1’34.4752.59512
188Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’34.9143.03419
199Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’34.9363.05619
2094Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’35.0453.16519

Third practice visual gaps

Kimi Raikkonen – 1’31.880

+0.162 Sebastian Vettel – 1’32.042

+0.211 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’32.091

+0.449 Valtteri Bottas – 1’32.329

+0.659 Lewis Hamilton – 1’32.539

+0.699 Max Verstappen – 1’32.579

+1.329 Sergio Perez – 1’33.209

+1.360 Felipe Massa – 1’33.240

+1.410 Esteban Ocon – 1’33.290

+1.441 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’33.321

+1.650 Fernando Alonso – 1’33.530

+1.658 Lance Stroll – 1’33.538

+1.907 Kevin Magnussen – 1’33.787

+1.991 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’33.871

+2.044 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’33.924

+2.326 Pierre Gasly – 1’34.206

+2.595 Jolyon Palmer – 1’34.475

+3.034 Romain Grosjean – 1’34.914

+3.056 Marcus Ericsson – 1’34.936

+3.165 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’35.045

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Sebastian VettelFerrari1’51.0091’31.2611’32.042+0.78149
2Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’50.7341’31.8651’31.880+0.01550
3Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’49.7191’32.0991’32.091-0.00847
4Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’48.9621’32.1091’32.579+0.4739
5Valtteri BottasMercedes1’52.0071’32.7201’32.329-0.39155
6Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’51.5181’32.6771’32.539-0.13843
7Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’50.5971’32.5641’33.530+0.96637
8Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’54.6691’32.8621’33.209+0.34744
9Nico HulkenbergRenault1’33.0601’33.871+0.81138
10Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’53.8961’33.0961’33.290+0.19451
11Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’33.3941’33.240-0.15443
12Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’53.7711’33.6731’33.321-0.35241
13Jolyon PalmerRenault1’53.6251’33.3811’34.475+1.09448
14Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’52.2951’33.8181’33.538-0.2846
15Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’34.3431’33.787-0.55627
16Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’34.1041’33.924-0.1841
17Pierre GaslyToro Rosso-Renault1’52.3801’34.0431’34.206+0.16360
18Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’56.2111’34.1181’34.914+0.79645
19Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’35.6971’34.936-0.76146
20Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’55.6521’35.2461’35.045-0.20158
21Sergey SirotkinRenault1’53.52110
22Sean GelaelToro Rosso-Renault1’54.61013
23Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari1’55.28010
24Antonio GiovinazziHaas-Ferrari1’56.3396

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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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10 comments on “Ferrari one-two in final practice as Mercedes close the gap”

  1. Kimi looking quick. Good to see.

  2. I thought Vettel did 1.31.2 yesterday in FP2, but in the combined times it now shows 1:32.6, am I missing something?

  3. MB to find even more speed in Q3. Meanwhile they’ll keep the wick turned down to get the most life out of their engines.

    1. @hohum If they were protecting engines, they would simply run less, and not the equal most laps of the session.

  4. Something happened to Seb, croft and Kravitz delighted, that’s all that I could infer. On the other channel they have no idea what’s going on, particularly technical stuff. On sky they are on top of things but they askew everything and rejoice in infuriating most f1 fans with relentlessness bias.

  5. Caught the end of the session, that was scrappy from Max who was fully aware of Jolyon coming up fast to finish his lap and ruined both drivers flying laps. Interesting to see what Mercedes will do with a split setup on the cars for the session. Hamilton’s fastest lap was scruffy so which way will they go? The car looked a handful with the back end moving around.

  6. Leaving out the FP1 wet track, DanR is looking pretty consistent.

  7. Vettel having a full power unit change to an old spec could help Kimi to pole. I expect if that the case he’ll be swiftly moved aside tomorrow tho. Mercedes are just confusing this weekend. Looked to finally have the pace with Hamilton going fastest early on, but nowhere when it got hotter (as it will be in qualifying) I’d be surprised if Hamilton gets top 3 here.

    1. it will be the new spec.

  8. I have to admit I’m impressed with Gasly.

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