FP3 - Rosberg fastest in final practice for the Spanish GP

Nico Rosberg secured the P1 spot ahead of Sebastian Vettel in this Saturday’s final practice session ahead of qualifying at the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton third.

Right at the start of the session we learned circuit curfew was broken yesterday by Lotus. They apparently carried out work on their cars, something that can be done twice per season.

Now onto the early goings and with some lower temperatures, Rosberg set the pace on the prime tyre for Mercedes, but did report he was struggling to get temperature to the rear brakes.

Teams reportedly were doing more laps than usual as they were set to get the most information possible from their new upgrades testing and how well it worked with tyres. And sometimes it doesn’t work for the better - something Kimi Raikkonen learned as he sarcastically radioed “Excellent, excellent” when told the team had a wrong setting towards the end of the session.

Some drivers like Romain Grosjean or Lewis Hamilton did have strong lockups on track, with Lewis even having a big spin at turn three. He did find reverse to carry on.

It was a good final session for the McLarens who were placed 11th and 14th, and more split sensations for Red Bull as Ricciardo went sixth and got in more laps than yesterday, but troubled Kvyat had to stay in the garage for a while.

At the end it was Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton at the top. Now it’s qualifying next. Don’t miss out.

Third practice classification at Catalunya:
1 Nico Rosberg — 1:26.021
2 Sebastian Vettel — +0.156
3 Lewis Hamilton — +0.201
4 Valtteri Bottas — +0.661
5 Kimi Raikkonen — +0.923
6 Daniel Ricciardo — +1.027
7 Felipe Massa — +1.088
8 Max Verstappen — +1.111
9 Daniil Kvyat — +1.292
10 Carlos Sainz — +1.788