The Russian Grand Prix weekend continued to struggle to get going, with final practice stopped short two thirds of the way through. Carlos Sainz lost control of his Toro Rosso which sent him into the barriers in a heavy crash that trashed the car and sent the Spanish driver to hospital. He was okay but the stewards decided not to restart the session after it was a lengthy extraction with plenty of debris on track.

In terms of times, Rosberg led the way with Bottas in second place splitting the two Mercedes drivers. Ferrari were a lot further down the order as were Toro Rosso and Lotus.