Spanish Grand Prix Practice 3 Overview

Teams will be hoping they can make the best out of the long straight.

Friday Practice 3 started to the immediate departure of both the Mercedes‘, and they had only one thing on their minds and that was get as much data as possible. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg tried out the ‘hard’ compound tyres and set reliably mediocre times.

McLaren were tipped to make the most of these practice sessions by trying on new upgrades and letting Sergio Perez connect better to his car but of all the racers, they lapped in the least laps at 13.

Sergio Perez was unlucky. The Mexican hit the side wall on the last turn in one of his laps. He also was complaining of car-handling issues before the team told him he had problems with his power steering. Overall, he couldn’t make the most of his car with his team mate, Jenson Button, lapping 2 spots above.

Ferraris set the early pace with Alonso. Massa did struggle during the middle of the session but put in brilliant consistent time towards the end and finally ended the practice on top. The Italian team tested many new parts and they’ve modified the floor a lot and they got the results they needed.

Lotus continued to impress and they have been the only team to significantly improve over the course of the season. Kimi Raikkonen finished in 2nd and Romain Grosjean, who was enduring a tough time during the start of the session, finished 4th.

Red Bull looked very strong early on but as the teams switched on to the ‘medium’ compound tyres, they couldn’t get the best of their cars. Mark Webber outshone Sebastian Vettel but the German was found to be struggling a little with his steering.

Force India continue to chase the points and they’ve been very consistent when it comes to long runs. Their cars are good on managing tyre-ware and they have a great top speed, meaning the long straight will benefit them in the race. Paul di Resta finished 7th and Adrian Sutil finished right behind him.

The Friday Practice gave us a glimpse of what we can expect in the race tomorrow but many problems for individuals ruined their chances of trying to show us what their cars are capable of. Come qualifying, we still might not have the clearest of ideas but I, for one, am backing the Lotus and Ferraris to shine