Rosberg top from Vettel in close FP3

© XPB 

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of final practice for the Spanish Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel split the two Mercedes' in qualifying trim.

Having admitted he needed to work on his one-lap pace following second practice, Rosberg set the pace with a 1:26.021 on medium tyres in the final session. He followed Vettel over the line on their qualifying-spec runs, with Vettel's time leaving him just 0.156s adrift of the Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton was third quickest after a scruffy lap saw him lock up in the final chicane and end up 0.201s adrift of his team-mate. Hamilton's session was a messy one, as he made a mistake at Turn 3 and ran slightly wide on to the run-off area, pitching him in to a high-speed spin. The defending world champion did well to control the car after losing the rear end and kept it out of the wall, with just four heavily flat-spotted tyres to show for the incident.

Valtteri Bottas was fourth as Williams again showed a big step forward on Saturday morning, beating his fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen who was fifth in the second Ferrari. Bottas was 0.6s off the pace but Raikkonen's lap of 1:26.944 was 0.8s slower than his team-mate, hinting he has more to come.

Daniel Ricciardo recovered from a difficult day on Friday to set the sixth fastest time on Saturday morning, a second adrift of Rosberg. Red Bull appears to have made a step forward with its updated RB11 this weekend and may be able to challenge the Williams cars in qualifying.

Behind Ricciardo were Felipe Massa and Max Verstappen as Toro Rosso's strong weekend continued, with Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz completing the top ten.

Jenson Button was 11th for McLaren, with the MP4-30 appearing more competitive in Spain but a spot in Q3 looking a tall order as he was half a second away from Sainz. Team-mate Fernando Alonso was only 14th fastest after a mistake at the final chicane on his medium-tyre lap, with Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Nasr splitting the two McLarens.

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Spanish Grand Prix

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PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
01Nico RosbergMercedes1:26.02119
02Sebastian VettelFerrari1:26.17714
03Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:26.22210
04Valtteri BottasWilliams1:26.68219
05Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1:26.94414
06Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1:27.04819
07Felipe MassaWilliams1:27.10919
08Max VerstappenToro Rosso1:27.13218
09Daniil KvyatRed Bull1:27.3137
10Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:27.80917
11Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:27.93817
12Nico HulkenbergForce India1:28.08213
13Felipe NasrSauber1:28.09623
14Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:28.30417
15Romain GrosjeanLotus1:28.57817
16Pastor MaldonadoLotus1:28.61818
17Marcus EricssonSauber1:28.78820
18Sergio PerezForce India1:28.99614
19Will StevensManor1:31.12516
20Roberto MerhiManor1:31.74917