Hamilton completes Baku practice clean sweep; Red Bull and Ferrari improve, but still over a second back on Mercedes; Flying Perez crashes at the last, while luckless Bottas loses the whole session
Tuesday 27 December 2016 08:37, UK
Lewis Hamilton maintained his edge over Nico Rosberg around the Baku streets in final practice and will go into the inaugural qualifying session on the back of a hat-trick of fastest times.
The world champion, chasing a third successive victory this weekend, outpaced his Mercedes team-mate by 0.258 seconds as the Brackley team enjoyed a one second advantage over the field.
Hamilton's best supersoft tyre lap of 1:44.352 was a tenth slower than his benchmark effort from Friday, and was set after he had run wide at Turn One on a previous lap.
Hamilton criticises 'moaning' drivers
After difficult Fridays, perennial challengers Red Bull and Ferrari showed improved form in P3 to move back into the top five - but were still outpaced by Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.
And Sergio Perez was poised to go even quicker than his third-fastest team-mate on his final lap but, in a near carbon-copy of Daniel Ricciardo's accident from Friday, swiped the Turn 15 barriers, seriously damaging the rear of his VJM09.
Force India now have a tight turnaround the repair the Mexican's car for qualifying, which takes place at 2pm BST live on Sky Sports F1.
Williams' Valtteri Bottas had also been among Friday's pacesetters but lost the whole session when a loose drain cover in the pit lane ripped off the barge-board on his FW38. The Finn was returning to the garage after his installation lap but the damage sustained was too great to return before the chequered flag.
Fourth-placed Ricciardo was 1.2 seconds off the pace in the lead Red Bull, with Sebastian Vettel showing similar pace in the Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen's Baku struggles continued, however, with the former world champion only 10th.
Improving McLaren retained a place in the top 10 courtesy of Jenson Button's eighth-quickest lap, the Briton within a tenth of the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
Practice Three timesheet
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:44.352
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:44.610
3. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:45.540
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:45.620
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:45.630
6. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:45.735
7. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:45.901
8. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:45.954
9. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:45.981
10. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:46.024
11. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:46.131
12. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:46.190
13. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:46.361
14. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:46.510
15. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:46.670
16. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:47.024
17. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:47.100
18. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:47.158
19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:47.328
20. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:47.379
21. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:47.556
22. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, No time
