2015 Japanese Grand Prix - Practice 3 Analysis: Ricciardo gives Red Bull a fighting chance

The final practice session for the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix has ended and to the delight of almost everybody the rain stayed away. We finally saw roughly what the pecking order would be for qualifying and Mercedes managed to up one on there Ferrari counterparts.

The session saw Nico Rosberg finish on top with a lap time of 1:33.995, 3 tenths ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton. The blood red Ferrari couldn't match the Mercs in the qualifying runs as they found themselves a full second adrift in P6 and P8. To be fair though Sebastian Vettel (P8) lost a lot of time on his lap from Daniil Kvyat. However when Mercedes and Ferrari ran there longer runs Sebastian Vettel appeared to be much faster than Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen, with 1 tenth separating all 4 drivers at one point. A difference between the two teams could be set up as Martin Brundle pointed out when he was track side at Degnar 1 and 2. He stated that the Ferrari looks "weak" through both Degnars. However these times aren't 100% representative as we can't be fully sure of the fuel loads that both teams ran.

Red Bull had a strong session on one side of the garage with Daniel Ricciardo finishing a very strong 3rd for the Milton-Keynes team. Results like these are what Red Bull need as they consider leaving the sport. Ricciardo drove 22 laps and as far as I was aware he didn't make any major mistakes during the run. He had pace on the hard tires as well as the mediums in the quali simulations. On the other side of the garage Kvyat was really struggling as he ran wide twice through Degnar 2. For me this will be a corner to watch for Kvyat in qualifying as it appears he isn't full on top of it. Ricciardo wasn't the only one strong on Hard tire runs though as 20 minutes in all 4 Renault powered cars were in the top 5.

Another consistent performer and surprise from FP3 was Williams who were in the top 6 when the Hard tires were being run. They then managed to keep that pace up when running the qualifying simulations. I did think Williams would be strong here as the mainly high speed and medium speed corners would suit there engine and chassis package. For them, Turns 11 (Hairpin) and 16, 17, 18 (Casino Triangle) will be important as they are the slowest and need good traction, something Williams have struggled with.

Once again Toro Rosso also prove to be relatively strong here with there high quality chassis. Toro Rosso would have been a very strong prospect if they had a better engine in the back.

Overall the session finished like this:

1) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
2) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
3) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
4) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
5) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
6) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
7) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
8) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
9) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
10) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
11) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
12) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
13) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
14) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
15) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
16) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
17) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
18) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
19) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
20) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari

Daniel Ricciardo was the star of the session and he is definately one to watch in qualifying. He was driving unbelievely fast in FP3 and outclassed his car. With Ferrari and Mercedes fighting for the pole, Ricciardo could throw a spanner in the works.