Three sessions in a row for Rosberg, as the German led the way in final practice at his home race. Hamilton closed the gap to within five hundredths of a second, however, and Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t much further behind in third place. In fact the top eight drivers were split by less than a second, as the competition starts to heat up.

Mercedes were briefly investigated for a moment where Hamilton was released from his pit box into the path of Romain Grosjean, but the Haas driver was having problems of his own. Once again, he was struggling with mechanical problems – he spun out on track and then had a gearbox problem which meant he only had time for four laps. Despite plenty of warnings, drivers were still struggling to stay inside the track limits at turn one.