Mercedes remained on top with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Valtteri Bottas in F1 Russian GP FP3 session, while McLaren’s Carlos Sainz slotted in third.
It was a much cleaner FP3 session in F1 Russian GP at Sochi as Hamilton showed his hand with a 1m33.279s to lead the pack as Bottas (1m34.055s) was second by 0.776s but did not have a clean run as McLaren’s Sainz (1m34.096s) was third.
The Spaniard is not running the new parts which Lando Norris is this weekend. Renault’s Esteban Ocon (1m34.239s) did well to be fourth ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m34.252s), who also just has the rear suspension, rather than the whole upgrade.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1m34.306s) was only sixth with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (1m34.594s) doing well in seventh from the other Racing Point of Lance Stroll (1m34.732s) and AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat (1m34.752s).
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m34.787s) rounded out the Top 10 but his lap was compromised after a mistake as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m34.792s) was 11th. The Frenchman had a spin similar to Kvyat early on as late in the session, he almost hit Perez, who was slow ahead.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m34.806s) was pushed down to 12th with Williams’ George Russell (1m34.979s) doing well in 13th, to be ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m35.257s), who did not have a jolly run with multiple radio messages of his frustrations due to balance issues.
Behind the Frenchman was Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (1m35.292s) slotting in 15th from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m35.451s) with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m35.590s) leading Kimi Raikkonen (1m35.599s) in 18th.
At the back were Red Bull’s Alexander Albon (1m35.603s) in 19th from McLaren’s Norris (1m35.918s) as the former had his lap time deleted due to track limits in Turn 2, while the latter had to abort his lap. The Brit is keeping the new nose for rest of weekend.
Here’s what was said after F1 Russian GP Friday
