Japan – Free Practice 3: Rosberg again sets the benchmark, rain disrupts schedule

In Japan, Mercedes’ strong man so far is indeed Nico Rosberg! With a time of 1:32.092, car number 6 on the grid secured his hat-trick of free practice sessions, taking control each time. He was three-tenths ahead not of his own teammate but of Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull.

This hour of driving was indeed cut short by the rain. The start of the last free practice session of the weekend was indeed carried out on a slightly wet track, which forced the drivers to initially go out on intermediate or wet tires to complete their installation lap.

As a result, this prevented the drivers from properly getting their bearings on the Japanese track, which had already been washed by some showers from Friday night to Saturday. The traffic became intense in the last half-hour, even up to the very last seconds! Some drivers found themselves trapped and couldn’t unleash the full potential of their cars.

Among them, we find Lewis Hamilton, only seventh, 1 second and 1 tenth behind the benchmark set by his teammate. However, the reigning world champion did not actually improve his time initially set on medium tires. More flattering, his performance at that moment was 54 thousandths off the one initially set by Nico Rosberg.

But his second run, on soft tires, was indeed aborted after a small mistake at the Degner 2 corner. This small error forced him to return to the pits, without having enough time to go back out on track.

Daniel Ricciardo had a bit more success after missing out during FP2. As a reminder, a virtual Safety Car prevented him from showing the extent of his performance. This time, the Australian is three-tenths behind Nico Rosberg, on both the medium tires… and the soft tires!

Sebastian Vettel took the third spot, just over six-tenths off the lead, ahead of Max Verstappen. It should be noted here that both drivers were also victims of the infamous traffic. Their respective times therefore do not reflect their true level of competitiveness.

Same observation for Kimi Räikkönen, fifth but unable to complete his effort on his soft tires. Faster than Rosberg in the first sector, but slowed down by Kévin Magnussen’s Renault at Degner 1, the Dane ruined “Iceman’s” best time!

FASTEST SECTORS: (35 MINS): The ❄️MAN making sure Mercedes don’t have it all their own way in #FP3 #JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 #F1 pic.twitter.com/PaMI6OlKcr

— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 octobre 2016

Between the latter and Lewis Hamilton, let’s acknowledge the impressive position of Felipe Massa, sixth after a time achieved under the checkered flag!

Seventh, Lewis Hamilton didn’t even manage to reassure himself much two hours before the Qualifications. Let’s recall that the Englishman hasn’t secured a Pole Position on the Suzuka track since 2008, behind the wheel of a McLaren at the time! Nico Rosberg, on the other hand, is quite close to a third consecutive pole.

Pleasant surprise: the two Renaults have well prepared for the rest of the weekend with two entries in the Top 10. Remarkably, both Palmer and Magnussen clocked the exact same time of 1:33.639, with the Englishman taking the advantage after setting the time earlier.

Romain Grosjean has apparently resolved his problem from Friday, “the feelings seem to have returned” according to his own words. As a reminder, a failure in his braking system has been giving him a hard time since Singapore. The same happened in Suzuka yesterday with his off-track excursion in FP1. However, both he and his teammate have still made a few short off-track trips. The Mexican even spun in the Esses of the first sector.

GUT in a spin! The Haas swaps ends at the Esses 🙈

A three point turn and he’s back underway 👍#FP3 🇯🇵 #JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qEoDGEs2mW

— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 octobre 2016

At the bottom of the board, Esteban Ocon finished twentieth, two seconds ahead of Pascal Wehrlein. A flattering time but achieved here on softs compared to mediums for the German. On the same tires, Sainz recorded the last time, a relatively modest performance due to the breakdown he encountered on his Toro Rosso, with only three modest laps completed in Japan.

From now on, the big question for the Qualifications is mainly in the sky over Suzuka: will the rain come to disrupt its smooth running? On a dry track, it seems that Nico Rosberg has a slight lead over the pack, including Lewis Hamilton. But could a wet track unsettle the unwavering German driver?

Here is the complete ranking of this third free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix:

The answer in a few minutes with the summary of the qualifying session.