F1 News, Reports and Race Results

0.059s between Rosberg and Verstappen as Hamilton struggles

Nico Rosberg edged out Max Verstappen by just 0.059s in final practice for the Singapore Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton struggled.

With Verstappen saying on Friday he was confident he could close a 0.4s deficit to Rosberg, the 18-year-old duly did so as Red Bull displayed its ability to challenge Mercedes in Singapore in FP3. Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest for Ferrari - half a second off the pace - but Daniel Ricciardo in fourth place hit traffic in the final sector on his best lap.

Sebastian Vettel finished the session three quarters of a second adrift in fifth place, with the German complaining about rear braking stability on corner entry as he again ended up slower than team-mate Raikkonen.

Vettel ended FP3 ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kvyat as Toro Rosso continued its strong form at the Marina Bay Circuit. Hamilton was eighth as he struggled to put a clean lap together and didn't set a representative time, with his best lap coming on the supersoft tyre compared to ultrasofts for the rest of the field.

The session was red flagged after 15 minutes when Pascal Wehrlein spun at Turn 11, damaging his rear wing against the barrier and leaving debris on the circuit. While cars were returning to the pits, a giant lizard then appeared at Turn 3, waiting for Verstappen to pass in his Red Bull before continuing across the track and through the barrier.

On the restart, Felipe Nasr immediately locked up at Turn 13 with Esteban Gutierrez in close attendance and had to spin his car round to continue, followed by Hamilton going straight on at Turn 7.

Hamilton went off again the same corner on his ultrasoft tyre run and heavily locked his front left tyre, causing him to abort his lap. The championship leader was also complaining of high temperatures on the right hand side of his cockpit, and goes into qualifying on the back foot having completed just 10 laps in FP2 on Friday due to a hydraulic problem.

Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten, with Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso close behind at the end of the session, suggesting there will be a close fight between Williams and McLaren to challenge for a place in Q3 in qualifying.

FP3 RESULTS

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
01 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:44.352 15
02 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:44.411 15
03 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.860 15
04 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:44.903 12
05 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:45.104 13
06 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:45.316 13
07 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:45.503 19
08 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.806 9
09 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:45.879 17
10 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.947 16
11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:46.112 15
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:46.164 13
13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:46.316 16
14 Felipe Massa Williams 1:46.529 17
15 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:47.116 11
16 Jenson Button McLaren 1:47.277 16
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:47.293 18
18 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:47.411 20
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:47.956 20
20 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:48.689 13
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:49.201 10
22 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:49.565 14

Silbermann says ... Not so sleepy in Singapore

Romain Grosjean column: Drivers have a certain shelf life

Chris Medland's 2016 Singapore Grand Prix preview

TECHNICAL: Under the skin of the Red Bull RB12

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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