Vettel leads the way as Ferrari head all three practice sessions

2017 Russian Grand Prix third practice

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Sebastian Vettel lowered the Sochi track record again as Ferrari stayed ahead of Mercedes in final practice.

It was a one-two for the red cars as Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in second place, three-tenths of a second behind his team mate.

Mercedes narrowed the gap compared to yesterday. Valtteri Bottas was only a few hundredths slower than Raikkonen, while a scruffy final sector for Hamilton on one lap and traffic on another confined him to fourth place.

Max Verstappen put his Red Bull fourth but was almost a second and a half slower than Vettel. The Red Bulls also appear to have competition from Williams, as Felipe Massa separated their two cars.

There was a brief scare for Daniel Ricciardo when his car stopped five minutes before the chequered flag. He was able to re-fire his engine using the MGU-K and return to the pits.

Nico Hulkenberg’s final lap moved his Renault up to seventh at Ricciardo’s expense. Team mate Jolyon Palmer was unable to set a time due to technical trouble. Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Toro Rosso and Kevin Magnussen’s Haas completed the top ten.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelFerrari1’34.00117
27Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’34.3380.33716
377Valtteri BottasMercedes1’34.3640.36320
444Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’34.5420.54119
533Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’35.4521.45121
619Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’35.4711.47017
727Nico HulkenbergRenault1’35.6621.66115
83Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’35.8301.82924
955Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’36.1642.16320
1020Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’36.5562.55519
1118Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’36.6492.64819
1231Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’36.6762.67522
1326Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’36.8462.84518
1414Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’36.8692.86812
1511Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’36.9622.96121
168Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’37.1643.16320
172Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’37.1823.18115
189Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’37.5033.50221
1994Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’37.6573.65617
2030Jolyon PalmerRenault4

Third practice visual gaps

Sebastian Vettel – 1’34.001

+0.337 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’34.338

+0.363 Valtteri Bottas – 1’34.364

+0.541 Lewis Hamilton – 1’34.542

+1.451 Max Verstappen – 1’35.452

+1.470 Felipe Massa – 1’35.471

+1.661 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’35.662

+1.829 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’35.830

+2.163 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’36.164

+2.555 Kevin Magnussen – 1’36.556

+2.648 Lance Stroll – 1’36.649

+2.675 Esteban Ocon – 1’36.676

+2.845 Daniil Kvyat – 1’36.846

+2.868 Fernando Alonso – 1’36.869

+2.961 Sergio Perez – 1’36.962

+3.163 Romain Grosjean – 1’37.164

+3.181 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’37.182

+3.502 Marcus Ericsson – 1’37.503

+3.656 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’37.657

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Sebastian VettelFerrari1’37.2301’34.1201’34.001-0.11972
2Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’36.0741’34.3831’34.338-0.04571
3Valtteri BottasMercedes1’36.1191’34.7901’34.364-0.42680
4Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’36.6811’34.8291’34.542-0.28776
5Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’37.1741’35.5401’35.452-0.08855
6Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’37.9001’36.2611’35.471-0.7985
7Nico HulkenbergRenault1’36.3291’35.662-0.66753
8Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’37.2901’35.9101’35.830-0.0869
9Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’38.9761’37.0831’36.164-0.91973
10Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’38.7471’36.5061’36.556+0.0573
11Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’37.4571’36.6001’36.962+0.36288
12Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’37.9441’37.7471’36.649-1.09885
13Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’38.0651’36.6541’36.676+0.02289
14Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’38.8131’36.7651’36.869+0.10455
15Jolyon PalmerRenault1’39.1581’36.77142
16Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’38.4961’37.3001’36.846-0.45470
17Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’39.5331’37.0391’37.164+0.12568
18Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’39.5411’37.1251’37.182+0.05759
19Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’39.7311’37.4411’37.657+0.21668
20Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’40.0791’37.8191’37.503-0.31670

Combined practice times by tyre

Use column headings to sort.

DriverTeamUltra-soft bestSuper-soft bestSoft best
Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’34.5421’35.7101’39.252
Valtteri BottasMercedes1’34.3641’36.1191’39.589
Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1’35.8301’36.2241’38.381
Max VerstappenRed Bull1’35.4521’37.0071’38.872
Sebastian VettelFerrari1’34.0011’36.5241’37.726
Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’34.3381’35.9801’37.754
Sergio PerezForce India1’36.6001’37.1741’38.388
Esteban OconForce India1’36.6541’37.5411’38.997
Felipe MassaWilliams1’35.4711’36.8371’38.645
Lance StrollWilliams1’36.6491’37.8611’40.034
Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1’36.7651’37.7041’40.054
Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren1’37.1251’37.9451’40.774
Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso1’36.1641’37.2691’38.214
Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1’36.8461’37.4371’39.956
Romain GrosjeanHaas1’37.0391’37.5661’41.166
Kevin MagnussenHaas1’36.5061’37.7761’40.155
Nico HulkenbergRenault1’35.6621’37.355None
Jolyon PalmerRenault1’36.7711’38.5211’40.052
Marcus EricssonSauber1’37.5031’38.6331’41.939
Pascal WehrleinSauber1’37.4411’38.7391’40.921
Sergey SirotkinRenaultNoneNone4’42.096

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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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12 comments on “Vettel leads the way as Ferrari head all three practice sessions”

  1. Expect a Mercedes pole.
    The fact that Bottas is equally matched with Kimi and Lewis went out on his hot lap makes me think that Mercedes can still grab pole here.

    1. I agree. Mercedes can still overcome those 3 tenths with the power advantage they hold in qualifying. Things will be close.

      1. only because Mercedes use a special qualy engine mode, come the race and Ferrari will be far to fast in normal race conditions, its not where you start a race its where you finish

        1. Except this year is overtaking is so hard that pole has much more significance than the past few years.

          1. Exept this year there are cars on the track with the performance to overtake a Mercedes car.

          2. Maybe, but Mercedes will likely find a way to lose the race through strategy.

          3. And yet they started 3 on pole amd lost 2

    2. I think the gap is too big. It will be closer, but I think Vettel will get pole.

  2. Ferrari are mighty here. I don’t think they have been this strong since the start of 2013 season. That was also a time where you felt they could win every weekend, like it does now!

    1. Let’s just hope we don’t have a repeat of 2013’s second half of the season with one driver winning 9 races in a row.

    2. In 2013 Ferrari’s only advantage was tyre management, Fernando won the Chinese GP from 3rd place and the Spanish GP from 5th place. The F2013 wasn’t the best car pace-wise, the W04 and especially the RB9 were the fastest cars but they were not able to deploy all the downforce they generate on track due to the tyres. Once Pirelli switched from steel to Kevlar belts tyres in the Nurburgring, it was case closed…

  3. I doubt Mercedes will get pole this time, none of their drivers appeared at ease in their qualification runs, Lewis even got a slide, plus Sochi is a very low grip tarmac which suit more the better Ferrari chassis than the Mercedes.

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