Bottas leads very close final practice session

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix third practice

Posted on

| Written by

Valtteri Bottas ended the final practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix with the fastest time but just six hundredths of a second covered the top four.

The two Mercedes drivers were separated by three-thousandths of a second at the top of the times and the Ferrari drivers were in close attendance. Fourth-placed Sebastian Vettel was fastest through the middle sector and only 58 thousandths of a second slower than Bottas over a full lap.

The Red Bull drivers struggled, however. Max Verstappen complained of understeer at spun at Juncao on his way to the ninth-fastest time. Daniel Ricciardo put his car in its more customary fifth position behind the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers.

Fernando Alonso put in a strong showing for McLaren in sixth place, four-hundredths of a second off Ricciardo’s time. He was followed by the Force India pair.

Neither Williams featured in the top ten. Felipe Massa was 12th, less than a tenth of a second outside the top ten in a closely-knit midfield.
Team mate Lance Stroll was unable to set a time after a suspected gearbox problem halted his car at the beginning of the session.

Carlos Sainz Jnr improved to tenth place with his final lap, edging the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne outside of the top ten.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
177Valtteri BottasMercedes1’09.28124
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’09.2840.00326
37Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’09.3260.04520
45Sebastian VettelFerrari1’09.3390.05821
53Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’10.2440.96314
614Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’10.2881.00715
711Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’10.3221.04121
831Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’10.3571.07623
933Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’10.4951.2149
1055Carlos Sainz JnrRenault1’10.5991.31823
112Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’10.6371.35621
1219Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’10.6711.39014
1320Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’10.7211.44019
1427Nico HulkenbergRenault1’10.7431.46218
158Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’10.7621.48120
1610Pierre GaslyToro Rosso-Renault1’10.9811.70032
1728Brendon HartleyToro Rosso-Renault1’11.0851.80430
1894Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’11.1261.84525
199Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’11.4802.19927

Third practice visual gaps

Valtteri Bottas – 1’09.281

+0.003 Lewis Hamilton – 1’09.284

+0.045 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’09.326

+0.058 Sebastian Vettel – 1’09.339

+0.963 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’10.244

+1.007 Fernando Alonso – 1’10.288

+1.041 Sergio Perez – 1’10.322

+1.076 Esteban Ocon – 1’10.357

+1.214 Max Verstappen – 1’10.495

+1.318 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’10.599

+1.356 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’10.637

+1.390 Felipe Massa – 1’10.671

+1.440 Kevin Magnussen – 1’10.721

+1.462 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’10.743

+1.481 Romain Grosjean – 1’10.762

+1.700 Pierre Gasly – 1’10.981

+1.804 Brendon Hartley – 1’11.085

+1.845 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’11.126

+2.199 Marcus Ericsson – 1’11.480

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’09.2021’09.5151’09.284+0.082104
2Valtteri BottasMercedes1’09.3291’09.5631’09.281-0.048112
3Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’09.7441’10.1171’09.326-0.41897
4Sebastian VettelFerrari1’09.9841’09.8751’09.339-0.536101
5Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’09.8281’09.7431’10.244+0.50189
6Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’09.7501’09.8861’10.495+0.74578
7Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’10.1021’10.3731’10.671+0.56984
8Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’10.4761’10.6551’10.288-0.18870
9Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’10.4541’10.3061’10.357+0.051108
10Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’10.6951’10.322-0.37364
11Nico HulkenbergRenault1’11.6081’10.3961’10.743+0.34792
12Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’10.4021’10.9021’10.637+0.23585
13Carlos Sainz JnrRenault1’11.4671’10.6851’10.599-0.08697
14Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’10.6321’11.06487
15Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’11.4631’10.721-0.74249
16Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’11.1881’11.3001’10.762-0.42688
17Pierre GaslyToro Rosso-Renault1’14.0341’11.4221’10.981-0.44181
18George RussellForce India-Mercedes1’11.04729
19Brendon HartleyToro Rosso-Renault1’11.8211’11.085-0.73686
20Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’11.8571’11.126-0.73168
21Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’11.8981’11.9891’11.480-0.41872
22Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari1’11.80232
23Antonio GiovinazziHaas-Ferrari1’12.41737

Don’t forget your Predictions Championship entry

Enter your predictions for this weekend’s race before qualifying begins:

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

4 comments on “Bottas leads very close final practice session”

  1. And here’s how the team mates compare:

    WEH -0.354s ERI
    ALO -0.349s VAN
    RIC -0.251s VER
    SAI -0.144s HUL
    GAS -0.104s HAR
    MAG -0.041s GRO
    PER -0.035s OCO
    RAI -0.013s VET
    BOT -0.003s HAM

  2. Why is fp3 slower than fp1

    1. Temperature, and teams not having the balance right for that, I think (also probably because they were hedging a bit, waiting to see whether rain would come in FP3 or before/in qualifying) @f1fan-2000

  3. Is it possible anywhere to see sector times ?

Comments are closed.