Russian GP: Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 in final practice
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| Sebastian Vettel getting it done for Ferrari |
Could Mercedes still be sandbagging? "We've never done that intentionally," Mercedes' Hamilton said Friday. "There's no benefit to doing that. We were just trying to find the right balance in the car, but today it was not easy," he added on Friday. "But the reality is that Ferrari is just very fast.
Indeed they are fast. Sebastian Vettel turned the fastest lap in final practice Saturday morning for the Russian GP at Sochi. The Ferrari driver's fast time of 1m34.001s was 3/10ths up on his teammate Kimi Raikkonen who was 2nd at 1m34.338s.
Once again Valtteri Bottas beat his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to claim 3rd with a lap at 1m34.364s.
Max Verstappen rounded out the top-5 for Red Bull.
Renault confirmed that Palmer's car will require an engine change before qualifying. Just four laps for the unlucky Briton in this session.
Results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | LAPS |
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:34.001 | +0.000s | 17 |
| 2 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:34.338 | +0.337s | 16 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:34.364 | +0.363s | 20 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34.542 | +0.541s | 19 |
| 5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer | 1:35.452 | +1.451s | 21 |
| 6 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams Mercedes | 1:35.471 | +1.470s | 17 |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:35.662 | +1.661s | 15 |
| 8 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer | 1:35.830 | +1.829s | 24 |
| 9 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:36.164 | +2.163s | 20 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:36.556 | +2.555s | 19 |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams Mercedes | 1:36.649 | +2.648s | 19 |
| 12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India Mercedes | 1:36.676 | +2.675s | 22 |
| 13 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:36.846 | +2.845s | 18 |
| 14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren Honda | 1:36.869 | +2.868s | 12 |
| 15 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 1:36.962 | +2.961s | 21 |
| 16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:37.164 | +3.163s | 20 |
| 17 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren Honda | 1:37.182 | +3.181s | 15 |
| 18 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 1:37.503 | +3.502s | 21 |
| 19 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber Ferrari | 1:37.657 | +3.656s | 17 |
| 20 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | – | – | 4 |