Rosberg brings Mercedes back to the front in FP3

Nico Rosberg was fastest in the final practice session before qualifying with a time of 1:33.995. He was almost three tenths of a second clear of team mate Lewis Hamilton in 2nd, giving us an indication that Mercedes have resumed normal service after being off the pace in Singapore.

Singapore Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel was 8th with team mate Kimi Raikkonen 6th. However, teams were running different programs during the session as this has been the only dry session of the weekend so far. Ferrari did their qualifying simulation later in the session than Mercedes, and Vettel was briefly blocked by Daniel Ricciardo in the middle sector on his hot lap. We will have to wait for Q3 to see what the real gap between Mercedes and Ferrari is.

Red Bull ran the opposite program to Mercedes. They did their qualifying runs earlier in the session, with their longer runs being completed later. Ricciardo was 3rd fastest and was looking mighty in the Esses, as you would expect given the strong chassis and aero on the Red Bull. His team mate Daniil Kvyat did not look as comfortable as the Australian, he was just 14th.

Williams proved that they are in the hunt for the battle third best team this weekend with Red Bull. Valtteri Bottas was 4th and Felipe Massa 5th, just three tenths behind Ricciardo.

Both Toro Rossos made a top 10 appearance in the final standings. Like Red Bull, they did their qualifying laps early on, and look as though they could be in close competition with Force India in qualifying, particularly Nico Hulkenberg in 11th. However, the German will go into qualifying with a 3-place grid penalty for his collision with Massa in Singapore. Both he and Sebastian Vettel will be seeing the stewards for an incident at the end of the pit lane whilst Hulkenberg was doing a practice start.

It was another troubled day for McLaren. Jenson Button missed the final 15 minutes of the session having been kept in the garage as the mechanics did a lot of work at the rear of his car.

Final classification

1. Nico Rosberg – Mercedes – 1:33.995

2. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:34.292

3. Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull – 1:34.497

4. Valtteri Bottas – Williams – 1:34.797

5. Felipe Massa – Williams – 1:34.934

6. Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1:35.082

7. Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso – 1:35.160

8. Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari – 1:35.222

9. Romain Grosjean – Lotus – 1:35.602

10. Carlos Sainz – Toro Rosso – 1:35.963

11. Nico Hulkenberg – Force India – 1:36.110

12. Jenson Button – McLaren – 1:36.174

13. Marcus Ericsson – Sauber – 1:36.199

14. Daniil Kvyat – Red Bull – 1:36.294

15. Pastor Maldonado – Lotus – 1:36.307

16. Fernando Alonso – McLaren – 1:36.360

17. Sergio Perez – Force India – 1:36.430

18. Felipe Nasr – Sauber – 1:36.919

19. Will Stevens – Manor – 1:39.653

20. Alexander Rossi – Manor – 1:39.819

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