Red Bull and Ferrari closed the gap to Mercedes in FP3 for the German Grand Prix, with the 0.164s covering all three teams.
Nico Rosberg was again quickest after an improvement on his final flying lap on supersoft tyres - set before Ferrari and Red Bull ran - with the German going 0.057s faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton failed to improve on his final time, but the fact that both drivers were 0.2s slower than Rosberg's FP1 time suggests there is more to come from Mercedes.
One concern for the team emerged early in the session when Hamilton was released in front of Romain Grosjean in the pit lane, with the stewards investigating the incident. Hamilton has been called to see the stewards at 1230 local time, and the championship leader is currently just one reprimand away from an automatic ten-place grid penalty.
Regardless, Red Bull and Ferrari threatened during the session, with Daniel Ricciardo third quickest, 0.099s slower than Rosberg. Ricciardo set the fastest middle sector of the session as he threatened, with Ferrari and Williams also quicker than Mercedes in sector two.
Ricciardo was last of the front runners to complete his lap having spent much of the first half of the session in the garage, while Raikkonen ran shortly before the Australian and was fourth fastest overall, 0.164s off Rosberg.
Like Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel also failed to improve with his second attempt on supersofts, with the Ferrari driver finishing FP3 0.366s adrift. Max Verstappen was sixth and also within half a second of the best time, while the Williams pair of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were seventh and eighth respectively.
Fernando Alonso kept McLaren in the top ten as he edged out Nico Hulkenberg by 0.1s, with a very close battle emerging for the final spots in Q3. Alonso's team-mate Jenson Button had a less successful session as he completed just six laps. Button had to have a tiny piece of carbon removed from his eye after FP2 on Friday but was hampered by reliability issues on Saturday morning which cost him more track time.
Only Grosjean completed less mileage than Button, with the Haas driver managing just four laps before a gearbox issue saw him go off at Turn 3. Grosjean returned to the pits where Haas decided a gearbox change was needed, leaving the team with a busy two hours before qualifying.
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| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:15.738 | 16 |
| 02 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:15.795 | 19 |
| 03 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:15.837 | 13 |
| 04 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:15.902 | 16 |
| 05 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:16.104 | 20 |
| 06 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:16.182 | 23 |
| 07 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:16.400 | 28 |
| 08 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:16.630 | 26 |
| 09 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:16.916 | 11 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:16.972 | 16 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:17.028 | 20 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:17.066 | 10 |
| 13 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | 1:17.160 | 17 |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:17.227 | 19 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1:17.351 | 9 |
| 16 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:17.473 | 23 |
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:17.685 | 19 |
| 18 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:18.057 | 24 |
| 19 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:18.093 | 6 |
| 20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | 1:18.270 | 24 |
| 21 | Rio Haryanto | Manor | 1:18.272 | 18 |
| 22 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:25.160 | 4 |
