Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of final practice for the Russian Grand Prix as a heavy crash for Carlos Sainz ended the session prematurely.
With 25 minutes still to run, Sainz went off at Turn 13 - a tight right hander at the end of a DRS zone - with his car becoming embedded below the tecpro barrier. The session was red flagged with the medical car responding to the incident and was not restarted while Sainz was extricated from his car.
The FIA confirmed Sainz was conscious and TV pictures showed him giving the thumbs up from a stretcher as he was being loaded in to the back of an ambulance.
Sainz's crash came following a very busy start to the session as teams finally got some dry running after rain on Friday. The Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa had set the early pace before Rosberg set the benchmark with a 1:38.561 on the supersoft tyre.
Bottas ended the session second fastest, 0.726s slower than Rosberg, with Lewis Hamilton 0.1s further back in third place. Hamilton's first timed lap on supersofts was ruined by a big lock-up in to Turn 2, causing him to run wide and flat-spotting his front tyres.
Sergio Perez was fourth ahead of Massa and Nico Hulkenberg, with Mercedes-powered cars dominating the top of the timing screens. The first non-Mercedes car was actually a Honda, with Jenson Button seventh for McLaren ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Nasr.
The two Ferrari drivers had yet to set representative times on the supersoft tyre when the session was halted having sat in the garage for the opening 14 minutes. The lack of dry running means teams will be left with little data to prepare their cars for qualifying.
Sainz's Toro Rosso team-mate Max Verstappen also had an eventful session, spinning at the final corner and having to recover to the inside of the track having initially stopped on the exit kerb. A number of other drivers ran wide at various corners as grid levels remained low.
Big Sainz crash halts FP3 in Sochi
AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix FP3
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| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:38.561 | 15 |
| 02 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:39.287 | 17 |
| 03 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:39.363 | 13 |
| 04 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:39.616 | 14 |
| 05 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:39.875 | 14 |
| 06 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:39.917 | 14 |
| 07 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:40.581 | 12 |
| 08 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:40.767 | 13 |
| 09 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:41.200 | 11 |
| 10 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:41.229 | 14 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:41.358 | 15 |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:42.297 | 11 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:42.371 | 14 |
| 14 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:42.450 | 14 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:42.683 | 19 |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:42.686 | 11 |
| 17 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:43.089 | 16 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:43.347 | 14 |
| 19 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:46.767 | 19 |
| 20 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:47.249 | 18 |
