F1-EL3: Hamilton remains fastest in Sochi

Despite a spin that occurred following excessive braking in the penultimate corner of the Sochi circuit, Lewis Hamilton was able to achieve the best time in practice for the Russian Grand Prix with a lap completed in 1'38"726. The Championship leader beat his rival Nico Rosberg by almost three tenths. Alone Valtteri Bottas showed himself capable of keeping up with the infernal rhythm of Mercedes following the German by a tenth.

The rest of the peloton is already more than a second behind. Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Massa complete the top five ahead of Daniil Kvyat. The local driver has the luxury of being ahead of the Ferrari by Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso by having more than two tenths ahead of his teammate Jean-Éric Vergne. Sebastian Vettel finished painfully in the top ten, six tenths behind his Australian teammate.

The last test session was less pleasant for McLaren. Jenson Button only takes 11th place while Kevin Magnussen had to stop on the track following a mechanical problem. The Dane will have to move back five places on the grid for a gearbox change. The Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Pérez are the last cars less than two seconds from the benchmark, the German having to suffer the same sanction as the rookie. The news is not better at Lotus since Romain Grosjean only achieved the 16th fastest time while his teammate Pastor Maldonado, who will also lose five places on the Sochi grid, remained in the pits following problems with the energy recovery system.