There were three reserve drivers in action today, with Giedo van der Garde in at Sauber, Felipe Nasr getting behind the wheel of the Williams, and Robin Frijns taking his turn at Caterham. Mercedes were the fastest team out there, with Nico Rosberg leading the way for much of the session, to be pipped towards the end by his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The third place driver was Fernando Alonso, who at one point was sent out of the garage with a mixture of the soft and medium compounds on. He didn't get very far down the pit lane before crawling to a halt. Meanwhile, Kimi Räikkönen was struggling with his brakes, and ran massively wide - avoiding any walls, however.