Nico Rosberg was crowned 2016 Formula One World Champion as he finished second behind team-mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel was third for Ferrari.

Hamilton took the win he needed in the race but despite a hugely tense finish in which the leading Mercedes drivers were hunted down Sebastian Vettel, Rosberg clung on to second to win the title by just five points.

Both Hamilton and Rosberg got away well at the start and the pair slotted into first and second respectively. Behind them Daniel Ricciardo bogged down at the start and was quickly passed for third place by Kimi Raikkonen.

There was trouble too for the other Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen. The Dutchman collided with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg in Turn One and the Red Bull was pitched into a spin. Verstappen dropped to P22 but quickly began to fight back, rising to P15 by the end of lap four.

As the first round of pit stop began, triggered by leader Hamilton who took on soft tyres, Verstappen flew up the order and by the time Rosberg made his stop for soft tyres the Dutchman was in P2 behind Hamilton.

Lapping around half a second off the pace of the race leading Mercedes, Verstappen began to hold up Rosberg, resulting in the German starting lap 17 2.8s adrift of his team-mate. Behind the top three Raikkonen now held fourth ahead of Ricciardo, Vettel, the Force Indias of Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, Williams’ Felipe Massa and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

Earlier, on lap 14, Jenson Button, in the second McLaren, had the 305th and, according to him, final race of his F1 career ended by a steering fault.

On lap 20 Mercedes informed Rosberg that he needed to pass Verstappen to keep his race under control and the German responded immediately ROS diving down the inside of Verstappen’s car in Turn 8. The Dutchman resisted the attack but ultimately Rosberg, carrying a bit more speed, got the job done as they head for Turn 11.

Verstappen promptly made his first stop, for soft tyres. That resulted in Mercedes then informing Rosberg that they believed Verstappen would attempt to run to the end of the race on the set and that to guarantee P2 Rosberg would need to up his pace over the following three laps. Again the German obliged, immediately setting the fastest tour of the race to that point.

By lap 28, as leader Hamilton made his final stop, for more soft tyres, Rosberg has 25s in hand over Verstappen. That was deemed enough to call the German in for his final stop and after taking on more soft tyres on lap 30 he emerged behind Hamilton, but crucially was 3.9s ahead of Verstappen.

With only one pit stop made, Vettel led the race, and the German decided to go long on his second set of tyres. He nursed the soft compound set until lap 37 and then took on supersofts in the hope of catching strugglers in the final part of the race. He emerged in P6 and set off after team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

In the meantime Hamilton’s pace began to flag. The Mercedes pit wall questioned his lap times and the defending champion briefly ran quicker but a few laps later he again began to slow, with the result that Rosberg was slowly being pushed back towards Verstappen. On lap 38 the gap between the Red Bull driver and the Mercedes man was 3.4s.

It wasn’t Verstappen who was the threat though. On new supersofts Vettel’s began to surge forward. He quickly claimed the scalp of Raikkonen and lapping up to two seconds quicker than those ahead he swiftly caught up to the front four.

On lap 46 he was inside DRS range of fourth placed Ricciardo and Mercedes were on the radio telling Hamilton to increase his pace due to the “imminent threat”.

The messaging became more insistent as Vettel’s loomed, with Hamilton being told: "Ok Lewis, this is an instruction: we need a 45.1 for the win.” The terse response was “suggest you let us race”, but Rosberg was now on the other channel asking why the pace was so slow and requesting that he be allowed to pass Hamilton.

The situation became even more critical when Vettel blasted past Verstappen and with four laps remained edged inside half a second of Rosberg.

Hamilton was told by Mercedes engineering chief Paddy Lowe that he needed to up the pace. Hamilton responded that he was leading and quite comfortable. The final laps became ever more tense.

Vettel attacked on the penultimate lap, trying to overtake Rosberg into Turn 11. The German resisted though and that was it. Vettel stood off on the final lap and a little under two minutes later Hamilton took his 10th win of the year but the bigger prize – the FIA Formula World Championship title – went to the man in second place, Nico Rosberg.

Vettel finished the season with his seventh podium of the season, while Verstappen finished fourth ahead of Ricciardo. Sixth place went to Raikkonen, while Hulkenberg signed off on his time with Force India with seventh place ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez. Ninth place went the retiring Felipe Massa and the final point went to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace at Interlagos, though he was pressed hard in second practice ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix by weekend title hopeful Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg, who is bidding to take an unassailable championship lead over Hamilton in Brazil, finished the opening practice session at the Sao Paulo circuit just over two tenths of a second behind the defending champion. In the afternoon performance runs, however, the title leading German closed the gap on his British rival to just three hundredths of a second.

Behind the Mercedes pair, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and local hero team-mate Felipe Massa also improved on their morning positions, with the Finn moving from fifth in the morning to third in the afternoon, and Massa stepping up to fourth from sixth.

Behind them came the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, with the Australian reversing their morning order by outpacing his young team-mate by a tenth of a second in the afternoon runs on soft tyres.

Williams’ hopes of closing an 11-point gap to Force India in their battle for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship will have been given a boost by the fact that Bottas and Massa finished the session more than half a second clear of the nearest Force India man, Nico Hulkenberg, who finished in ninth position. The German’s team-mate Sergio Perez was further back in P14 a full second adrift of Bottas.

In the morning session Ferrari chose to focus its running on the medium-compound Pirelli tyres, with the result that its drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished in ninth and tenths positions respectively.

The pair improved in the aftertnoon on the soft tyre and Vettel eventually climbed to seventh place, though he did lose part of his front wing after running hard over the kerbs late in the sesson. Raikkonen backed the four-time champion up in eighth place. However, both men were over 1500ths of a second adrift of the time of the best Red Bull, Ferrari’s rival for second place in the Constructors’ battle.

The final top 10 place in the session went to Jenson Button. The McLaren driver was restricted to just 19 laps however as he spent most of the session confined to the team’s garage. A dismal session for the Woking team was made worse when Button’s team-mate Fernando Alonso stopped on track with an ERS problem.

Elsewhere, and incident between Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Ferrari’s Raikkonen was set to be investigated after the session by race stewards. The pair ran wheel to wheel on track as Raikkonen passed the Spaniard and the Finn then appeared to cut across the Toro Rosso driver.

2016 Brazilian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.271 41
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:12.301 0.030 40
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:12.761 0.490 47
4 Felipe Massa Williams 1:12.789 0.518 43
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:12.828 0.557 43
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:12.928 0.657 45
7 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:13.002 0.731 45
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:13.047 0.776 24
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:13.299 1.028 42
10 Jenson Button McLaren 1:13.440 1.169 19
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:13.572 1.301 18
12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:13.689 1.418 46
13 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso 1:13.801 1.530 47
14 Sergio Perez Force India 1:13.918 1.647 38
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:14.074 1.803 35
16 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:14.109 1.838 47
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:14.309 2.038 40
18 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:14.317 2.046 46
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:14.436 2.165 43
20 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:14.558 2.287 42
21 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:14.695 2.424 21
22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:14.958 2.687 22

Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrow’s title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole position after beating championship rival Nico Rosberg in qualifying by three tenths of a second.

The drivers standings leader will start second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

The Mercedes drivers were on track early in Q1 and Hamilton laid down a heavy gauntlet by posting a superb lap of 1:39 487. Rosberg followed his team-mate across the line but with the German admitting over the radio that it wasn’t a good lap and that he had “made two mistakes” he ended up a full second behind Hamilton.

No one else could get close to the defending champion’s time, however. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen came closest, the Finn finishing 0.851 adrift of Hamilton. Only two other drivers got to within a second of the Briton.

At the other end of the time sheet, Toro Rosso, which had been hampered by brake and tyre issues over the weekend, saw both its drivers eliminated in the first segment. Daniil Kvyat dropped out in P17, with team-mate Carlos Sainz eliminated in 21st place. Behind Kvyat, Kevin Magnussen, in his last race weekend for Renault, finished in P18 ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Manor’s Esteban Ocon. Behind Sainz, Marcus Ericsson was ruled our of Q2 in 22nd position.

Hamilton was quickly into the ascendancy in Q2 too. The Mercedes driver set the benchmark at 1:39.382. Rosberg could not match the time but got closer to his rival than in Q1 and with a time of 1:39.490 he finished 0.108 behind his rival.

This place went Raikkonen, who finished ahead of Verstappen, Vettel and Ricciardo.

As the final runs began, Fernando Alonso was the closest to a Q3 spot of those in the drop zone. And the McLaren driver found the extra reserve of pace he needed. His lap of 1:41.044 was good enough to earn him tenth spot behind Felipe Massa who is making his final grand prix appearance this weekend.

Alonso’ rise meant that Massa’s Williams tea-mate Valtteri Bottas was eliminated in P11 ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, who is also set for the final grand prix of his career tomorrow. Eliminated in P13 was Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez with the Mexican finishing ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean, Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Wehrlein.

Hamilton continued to set the pace in the early part of Q3, lapping in 1:39.013 to end the first runs 0.346 ahead of Rosberg who could only manage a lap of 1:39.359. Behind them Raikkonen was best of the rest ahead of Ricciardo, Verstappen and Vettel.

2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Qualifying

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:39.487 1:39.382 1:38.755
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:40.511 1:39.490 1:39.058
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:41.002 1:40.429 1:39.589
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:40.338 1:39.629 1:39.604
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:40.341 1:40.034 1:39.661
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:40.424 1:39.903 1:39.818
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:41.000 1:40.709 1:40.501
8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:40.864 1:40.743 1:40.519
9 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:41.616 1:41.044 1:41.106
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:41.157 1:40.858 1:41.213
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:41.192 1:41.084
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:41.158 1:41.272
13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:41.639 1:41.480
14 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:41.467 1:41.564
15 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:41.775 1:41.820
16 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:41.886 1:41.995
17 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:42.003
18 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:42.142
19 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:42.247
20 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:42.286
21 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:42.393
22 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:42.637

Haas F1 Team, the first American Formula One team in 30 years, has signed Kevin Magnussen to drive alongside veteran pilot Romain Grosjean beginning with the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Magnussen, the 24-year-old from Roskilde, Denmark, comes to Haas F1 Team with two years of Formula One experience – one with McLaren in 2014 and one with Renault in 2016. Magnussen finished an impressive second in his Formula One debut at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. He has scored 62 points in 38 grand prix starts leading into Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.

“From the time we began looking at drivers, Kevin Magnussen was always on our short list,” said Gene Haas, founder and chairman, Haas F1 Team. “He’s accomplished a lot in a very short period of time, and we feel like he can accomplish a lot with us. Our second season will bring a new set of challenges, and we feel that pairing Kevin with Romain will help us develop our new car and continue our growth.

“I want to thank Esteban Gutiérrez for all of his efforts. He’s been an instrumental part of our first year in Formula One and we’re looking forward to finishing the season strong with him and Romain.”

“This is a fantastic opportunity and I’m very happy to be a part of Haas F1 Team,” Magnussen said. “Obviously, I’m confident in my abilities as a Formula One driver, but I’m also very confident of what Haas F1 Team can do in its second season and every season thereafter. Gene Haas has come into Formula One with a strong vision and a different way of doing things. He’s making it work and work well. I’ve had a good vantage point all season long, and I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel of next year’s Haas VF-17.”

Grosjean joined Haas F1 Team in 2016 after spending five Formula One seasons with Lotus F1 Team. The 30-year-old has competed in 101 Formula One races and earned 10 podium finishes and a total of 316 points. He has scored all 29 points for Haas F1 Team to position the outfit eighth in the constructor standings with two races remaining in its debut season.

“A little more than a year ago I made my decision to join Haas F1 Team and it was absolutely the right decision,” Grosjean said. “I’m very proud to be a part of the team’s development and am very happy we can continue to grow and achieve more success in the years ahead.”

“We wanted an experienced driver capable of developing our car and our race team into one that can score points and better itself each race and each season. Romain has done a very good job of that and he’s played a large role in bringing respect and legitimacy to Haas F1 Team,” Haas said. “We have a new set of challenges next year with a new car and a new set of regulations, and his veteran leadership will again prove valuable.”

“As a brand new team with a new car and new personnel, it was incredibly important to have detailed, authoritative feedback of our racecar and our methods so that we could improve. Romain brought a lot of experience to our team and has been instrumental in getting us to where we are today,” added Guenther Steiner, team principal, Haas F1 Team. “Credit also goes to Esteban Gutiérrez for all of his work. His time with Ferrari was very beneficial as it helped get us acquainted with its methodologies and make the most of our partnership with them. He and Romain pushed each other on the track and together they’re responsible for the success we’ve had in our first season.”

Nico Rosberg closed to within a tenth of a second of title rival Lewis Hamilton in second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as the Briton continued to set the pace at Yas Marina Circuit.

In opening practice Hamilton outpaced Rosberg by more than three tenths but in the early evening session, on ultrasoft tyres, the championship leader found more pace and ended the 90 minutes just 0.079s behind his team-mate with a lap of 1:40.940.

Sebastian Vettel was third quickest for Ferrari and after being 1.1s behind Hamilton in the early afternoon session, the German closed the gap to 0.269 on the purple-banded softest compound on offer this weekend. Vettel’s session wasn’t without trouble, however, and his was forced to stop with a suspected gearbox issue.

The four-time champion’s performance overhauled a significant deficit to Red Bull Racing, which had enjoyed ‘best of the rest’ status in the opening session. In the evening, Max Verstappen was the quicker of the two Red Bulls, edging team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by just one thousandth of a second. Verstappen, though, was 0.259 behind Vettel. The Red Bulls managed to split the Ferraris, with Kimi Raikkonen finishing in sixth place with a time of 1:41.464.

After Felipe Massa finished ninth in the first session Williams, team-mate Valterri Bottas boosted the Grove team up the order by claiming seventh in the evening, though the Finn was just eight hundredths of a second clear of Force India’s Sergio Perez. Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India took eighth place ahead of Massa who rounded out the top 10.

McLaren improved in the second session, too, with Fernando Alonso jumping to P11 from P18 and Jenson Button recovering from a troubled opening session in which he posted just 10 laps and finished 20 to take P12.

Toro Rosso, though, had a troubled evening with Daniil Kvyat suffering a second puncture (the first came in the opening session). The failure caused him to spin off at high speed and though he avoided a big accident, he limped back to the pits where checks were undertaken. Neither he nor team-mate Carlos Sainz appeared on track again during the session.

2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 2

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:40.861 36
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:40.940 38
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:41.130 31
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:41.389 24
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:41.390 33
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:41.464 34
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:41.959 35
8 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.041 35
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:42.264 36
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:42.268 36
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:42.366 33
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:42.823 24
13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:43.012 35
14 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:43.108 17
15 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:43.272 33
16 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:43.600 35
17 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:43.754 33
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:43.903 36
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:44.045 34
20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:44.117 25
21 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:44.478 5
22 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:45.948 4

Lewis Hamilton outpaced team-mate Nico Rosberg by almost four tenths of a second in first practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as the pair's title-deciding duel got underway at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Hamilton goes into the final race of the 2016 season needing to reverse a 12-point deficit to Rosberg in order to take a fourth career title and the defending champion set about the task in the right way by settting a session-best time of 1:42.869 to finish 0.374s clear of his Mercedes team-mate and sole title rival.

Should Hamilton win a fourth race in succession on Sunday, Rosberg still needs only to finish third to be crowned champion and after FP1 he might be casting a nervous glance over his shoulder at ever-improving Red Bull Racing.

In the early afternoon session in Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen, fresh from an outstanding drive to third place in Brazil, ended the 90 minutes in P3, just five hundredths of a second behind Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull was just over a tenth behind the German.

Fifth place in the session went to Sebastian Vettel, though the Ferrari driver finished some seven tenths of a second behind the quickest Red Bull and more than 1.1s adrfit of Hamilton.

Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was seventh quickest, half a second back from the German and the Ferraris were split by Force India’s Sergio Perez, who set a lap of 1:44.155.

Carlos Sainz was eighth–fastest, the Toro Rosso driver setting a best time of 1:44.685. That left him three tenths clear of Williams’ Felipe Massa who is set to make his 205th and final grand prix start this weekend. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top 10 order.

Elsewhere, it was a difficult session for Haas’ Romain Grosjean with the French driver complaining about the unpredictability of his car under braking. The problems eventually led to a spin at Turn One.

McLaren’s Jenson Button, who is also set for a final grand prix before a sabbatical at the end of this season, also had a tough opening session. The Briton finished in P20 and managed just 10 laps.

2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 1

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.869 28
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:43.243 31
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:43.297 26
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:43.362 27
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:44.005 27
6 Sergio Perez Force India 1:44.155 23
7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.556 27
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:44.685 21
9 Felipe Massa Williams 1:45.039 27
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:45.168 20
11 Alfonso Celis Force India 1:45.476 26
12 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:45.600 13
13 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:45.778 17
14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:45.925 20
15 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.940 31
16 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:46.219 33
17 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:46.372 21
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:46.379 21
19 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:46.458 29
20 Jenson Button McLaren 1:47.127 10
21 Jordan King Manor 1:47.558 27
22 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 2:01.989 4

The entire range of new P Zero tyres in wider 2017 size is being presented in the Yas Marina paddock at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, together with a first look at the new tread pattern for the Cinturato intermediate and wet tyres.

NEW SIZES. The front tyre has grown wider by 60mm, going from 245 to 305mm. The rear tyre grows by 80mm, from 325 to 405mm. As a result, the 2017 tyres are around 25% wider than the current tyres. This applies to the intermediate and full wet tyres as well as the slicks.
The new 2017 slick tyre measurements are:
• 305/670-13 at the front
• 405/670-13 at the back
The Cinturato intermediate tyres will have a diameter of 675mm, while the Cinturato full wet tyres will have a diameter of 680mm.
The rim size remains unchanged at 13-inch.

TESTING. Thanks to a change in FIA sporting regulations, development of the new 2017 tyres has taken place over 10 sessions, making a combined total of 24 cumulative days of running. The test programme using individual mule cars began in early August, with the latest test concluding last week at Abu Dhabi with Ferrari. On the Tuesday after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (November 29) the three mule cars from Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull will all be seen on track together for the first time.

MULE CARS. The three teams have each provided a modified 2015 car that has been adapted according to specific technical directives from the FIA in order to simulate next year’s regulations, with more downforce, a wider track and wider tyres. Each car has so far completed seven days of running (as detailed in the test calendar) with the work equally split on slick tyres in all the different compounds as well as intermediate and wet tyres.

The November 29 test day at Abu Dhabi will be the eighth day of running for each of the three teams, making up a cumulative total of 24 days that completes this year’s development programme agreed by the teams, the FIA and Pirelli.

PROGRAMME. A total of five circuits have hosted the development programme, as per the details below:

MULE CAR TESTS – 2017 SIZES

Session Date Test days Circuit Car (s) Type of tyre Drivers
1 Aug 1-2 2 Fiorano FER Wet Vettel/Gutierrez
2 Aug 3-4 2 Mugello RBR Slick Buemi
3 Sep 6-7 2 Barcelona FER Slick Raikkonen/Vettel
4 Sep 6-7-8 3 Paul Ricard MGP Slick Wehrlein
5 Sep 21-22 2 Paul Ricard MGP Wet Wehrlein
6 Oct 12-13 2 Barcelona MGP Slick Rosberg
7 Oct 14-15-16 3 Abu Dhabi RBR Slick Gasly
8 Nov 2-3 2 Abu Dhabi RBR Wet Gasly
9 Nov 15-16-17 3 Abu Dhabi FER Slick Vettel/Fuoco
10 Nov 29 3 Abu Dhabi ALL 3 TEAMS Slick

RESULTS TO DATE. Pirelli is satisfied with the results obtained to date, despite the obvious difficulties that the teams have faced in modifying their 2015 cars in order to exactly simulate the performance expected next year.

While they have delivered an increase in downforce compared to current cars, the mule cars are still some way from the real performance of the 2017 cars, which will influence the way that the compounds behave in particular. A number of these compounds, designed with a new philosophy and new materials, have already begun to meet the targeted objectives: lower degradation and greater resistance to overheating, allowing them to consistently maintain an optimal level of grip. But all these results will be validated at the start of next year in representative conditions. One complication comes from the fact that some European tests have been run in cold conditions and rain, limiting the relevance of these tests.

Development will in any case continue throughout 2017 to deliver the improvements that have been requested, based on data obtained during races, and supply a further evolved product in 2018.

All this has been discussed and agreed with the teams, with whom Pirelli is already working to define a new test plan for next season.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “I’d like to thank all the teams that have allowed us to develop our new wider tyres for 2017, using their mule cars. We’ve made huge steps forward since trying the new tyres out for the first time at the beginning of August and we’re pleased by the results obtained with the majority of the specifications. We know however that the work is just beginning. The aerodynamic progress made by next year’s cars will lower lap times by around five seconds compared to 2015, and about three seconds compared to this year. The new cars that will take to the track for the first time in February will have a downforce increase of more than 20 per cent: much more than we have seen with the mule cars. And that progress will continue throughout the whole of next season. So the next phase of our development, aimed at 2018 when the cars will be faster still, already begins in February.”

Nico Rosberg took over at the top of the Interlagos timesheets, beating Friday’s fastest man Lewis Hamilton by less than one tenths of a second in this morning’s final practice session ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hamilton held sway over his title-chasing team-mate in both Friday sessions, initially by two tenths of a second and then by just three hundreds of a second but thius morning, markedly changed conditions, Rosberg gained the upper hand, though by 0.093s.

Friday warm sunshine gave way to rain this morning and by the time the session started conditions were grey and overcast and the track temperature was 30˚C down on yesterday.

In a quiet opening half to the session a number of drivers tested the conditions on full wet Pirelli tyres before Hamilton branded the conditions suitable for slicks. Despite a couple of off-track moments the Briton quickly proved the hypothesis by setting a time of 1:16.980. It was a full five seconds off yesterday morning’s pace but when Williams’ Valtteri Bottas took almost two seconds out of that time with his first flyer then the pattern was clear. The greasy track was drying, grip was returning and the times would tumble.

In the first half hour it was Ferrari who ran quickest with Kimi Raikkonen setting a P1 time of 1:12.530 to sit just behind his team-mate. During this period Mercedes were content to test the durability of the soft tyre in cooler conditions and Rosberg and Hamilton spent the early session rooted in P18 and P19 respectively.

It was a similar story for Red Bull Racing’s drivers, with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo spending the first part of the session on medium tyres. Their times on the white-banded rubber were good enough, however, for third and fourth place respectively.

It was Ricciardo who first made the move to soft rubber for a qualifying sim and with just over 15 minutes left in the session the Australian jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:12.287. He improved on the first sector of his next lap but then backed out of pushing in the final two.

Verstappen then briefly took top spot with a lap of 1:12.077 before Rosberg put in a time of 1:11.787 with his first flyer. His next would lower the benchmark slightly with a time of 1:11.740.

That was too rich for Hamilton who managed a best time of 1:11.833 to take P2, just under a tenth behind his team-mate.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen then popped to steal P3 from Verstappen. The Finn’s status as best of the rest was short-lived, however, as in the final moments of the hour Vettel stole in ahead of his team-mate by 0.068s.

With the Red Bull drivers in P5 and P6, seventh place went to Bottas. Renault’s Jolyon Palmer was a surprise eighth ahead of the second Williams of Felipe Massa and the final top 10 place went to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard’s session looked in doubt as, after an overnight engine change, a gearbox problem also surfaced ahead of FP3. It suggested that Alonso might be heading for a grid penalty if it needed replacing but eventually McLaren resolved the issue and Alonso joined the session. Team-mate Jenson Button also had an overnight power unit change and he too had a less than perfect session, only managing nine laps.

There were problems elsewhere too. Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat had a stop-start session as he reported issues with his car but while the Russian was able to complete 13 laps over at Sauber Marcus Ericsson managed a single installation lap before heading back to the Swiss outfit’s garage where they later reported that his car would require and engine change before qualifying.

2016 Brazilian Grand Prix – Free Practice 3

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:11.740 19
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.833 21
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:11.959 14
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:12.027 16
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:12.077 19
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:12.287 21
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:12.614 27
8 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:12.968 19
9 Felipe Massa Williams 1:12.990 26
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:13.002 12
11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:13.203 14
12 Sergio Perez Force India 1:13.231 19
13 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:13.255 15
14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:13.293 20
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:13.344 15
16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:13.596 16
17 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:13.609 13
18 Jenson Button McLaren 1:13.750 9
19 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:13.972 20
20 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:13.992 14
21 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:14.222 21
22 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1