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Hamilton also fastest on dry track before qualifying

Hamilton and his Mercedes set the fastest time in all three practice sessions, once again ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg and Vettel’s Ferrari. This third three practice session was the only dry one, so the teams had a lot of work to do in only one hour. Therefore, at the beginning different people were testing different tyre compounds with different amounts of fuel, which made it hard to draw any conclusions about their real pace.

The session didn’t have an ideal start for Manor and Haas, since Haryanto collided with Grosjean on the pit lane after being released when the Frenchman was passing by. The Red Bulls set the early pace with the Supersoft tyre, almost 3 seconds clear of Vettel and the Mercedes. 30 minutes into the session, the Ferraris went on top of the timesheet with the Soft tyre, but Ricciardo went back up there with the SuperSoft. Meanwhile, Pascal Wehrlein was surprisingly sitting on 7th with his Manor using the Soft tyre. The Mercedes claimed their privileged position and were 1st and 2nd still with the Soft compound.

In the final minutes all drivers made a qualifying simulation and the Ferrari were pretty close to the Mercedes. The Toro Rosso were surprisingly the next team, even ahead of Williams and Red Bull. Hamilton was fastest ahead of Rosberg, Vettel, Sainz, Räikkönen, Verstappen, Bottas, Ricciardo, Massa and Pérez. The McLarens came right after the top 10, which shows a clear improvement from last year.

Pos. Car Driver Team Lap Time
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:25,624
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:25,800 + 0,176
3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:25,852 + 0,228
4 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:26,257 + 0,633
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:26,435 + 0,811
6 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:26,701 + 1,077
7 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:26,730 + 1,106
8 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:26,768 + 1,144
9 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:27,151 + 1,527
10 11 Sergio Pérez Force India 1:27,242 + 1,618
11 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:27,263 + 1,639
12 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:27,341 + 1,717
13 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:27,430 + 1,806
14 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:27,659 + 2,035
15 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault Sport F1 Team 1:27,871 + 2,247
16 27 Nico Hülkenberg Force India 1:27,988 + 2,364
17 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault Sport F1 Team 1:28,117 + 2,493
18 21 Esteban Gutiérrez Haas F1 Team 1:28,284 + 2,660
19 8 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team 1:28,292 + 2,668
20 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:28,293 + 2,669
21 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor F1 Team 1:29,046 + 3,422
22 88 Rio Haryanto Manor F1 Team 1:29,272 + 3,648