FP3: Alonso on the lead while Mercedes is struggling

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso returned to the head of the field during Saturday evening’s final practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.

Fourth place went to Jean-Eric Vergne, who is literally racing for his F1 career having been dropped by Toro Rosso for 2015, while Sebastian Vettel was fifth quickest having put in a late lap.

Surprisingly Lewis Hamilton could only manage the sixth best time having had a few issues.

Putting in the laps earlier on the soft tyres, he had a big moment at Turn 5 when he had a half spin after hitting a kerb. He was lucky to avoid the barriers.

The Brit told his team that his engine briefly stalled and that he used the clutch to restart it. A few laps later he reported that the “driveability is very bad at the moment.”

Hamilton’s best on the supersofts was 0.439s off the pace.

 

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:47.299
2 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:47.350 0.051
3 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:47.488 0.189
4 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:47.693 0.394
5 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:47.711 0.412
6 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:47.738 0.439
7 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:47.909 0.610
8 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:48.205 0.906
9 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:48.226 0.927
10 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.422 1.123
11 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:48.450 1.151
12 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.577 1.278
13 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.599 1.300
14 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:48.637 1.338
15 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:49.078 1.779
16 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:49.115 1.816
17 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:49.485 2.186
18 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:50.149 2.850
19 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:50.376 3.077
20 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:50.939 3.640
21 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:51.221 3.922
22 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1:51.598 4.299