Mercedes pair set for qualifying duel; Williams improve but McLaren head the other way; Qualifying live from 12pm
Friday 17 October 2014 17:46, UK
Lewis Hamilton set the pace ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in final practice ahead of Russian GP qualifying on Saturday morning.
Hamilton, who holds a ten-point advantage over Rosberg in the drivers' standings, lapped the 5.848km Sochi Autodrom in a time of 1:38.726s to end up 0.290s faster than the German.
The superiority, therefore, was not quite on a par with the advantage of 0.864s Hamilton had enjoyed after Friday afternoon's session, although Rosberg, who was fourth fastest in P2, had blamed his performance then on a "creative set-up".
He has moved closer but Hamilton's one-lap practice run on soft compound tyres suggests that momentum remains with him heading into qualifying. Even so, he did indulge in a late spin at the penultimate corner, Turn 17.
While Mercedes - who will wrap up the constructors' title this weekend if they score 25 points - continue to assert themselves out front, the order was shuffled behind them.
It was a session to forget for McLaren. Kevin Magnussen had been second fastest on Friday but the Dane brought out the red flags 20 minutes in when he stopped with an gearbox problem on the run to Turn 5.
With the gearbox on Magnussen's car changed ahead of qualifying, it means he'll start Sunday's race with a five-place grid penalty.
Meanwhile, Jenson Button, who had also shown good pace earlier in the weekend, appeared to have taken a wrong turn on set-up, complaining over the radio at one stage that the "balance is awful".
He ended up 11th fastest, with Magnussen 17th. In contrast, Williams made gains with Valtteri Bottas third fastest and Felipe Massa fifth.
Also improving was Daniel Ricciardo, who split the Williams drivers. However, World Champion Sebastian Vettel ended the session tenth fastest about 0.6s slower than his Red Bull team-mate.
Vettel was, in fact, out-paced by his replacement at Red Bull next season, with Daniil Kvyat sixth overall.
Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne was ninth fastest with the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso seventh and eighth respectively.
