Abu Dhabi GP: Rosberg stays ahead of Hamilton in FP3

Rosberg, quickest on Friday, set the best time of the weekend so far with a lap of 1:41.856 to finish 0.281 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

The world champion, however, was not entirely happy with his teammate, complaining that Rosberg had got in the way during a flying lap late in the session.

Sebastian Vettel was the Mercedes duo's closest challenger, finishing over three tenths off Rosberg's best.

Sergio Perez impressed once again in the Force India, posting the fourth fastest time ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.

Daniel Ricciardo wound up sixth in the only Red Bull to complete a timed lap, followed by Nico Hulkenberg, Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz, 10th quickest.

There was no rush for the frontrunners to take the track at the start of the session, as the Saubers and the Manors were the only ones to post a time in the first minutes of running.

Perez moved to the top of the times at the 10-minute mark, continuing to show the strong form that helped him finish as third fastest on Friday.

Vettel was the first on the frontrunners to complete a timed lap with over 15 minutes gone, but the Ferrari driver was outpaced by teammate Raikkonen right away, as the Finn set a new benchmark with a 1:43.219 lap, nearly a full second quicker than Vettel at the time.

Vettel caused the yellow flags to be displayed briefly when he spun at Turn 1, before Hamilton jumped to first place with a 1:43.078, still using the soft tyres.

After going quickest, it was Hamilton's turn to spin when he lost control of his car at Turns 5/6.

The first runs with the supersofts began with less than 15 minutes to go, the Mercedes duo the first to go out with the red-sidewalled rubber.

Rosberg jumped from third to first with his first lap on the softer compound, going eight tenths faster than Hamilton's previous best as the Briton failed to improve after a mistake.

The world champion did improve in his second attempt, but fell 0.281s short of his teammate's time. On the following lap, Hamilton complained that Rosberg had got in the way during his flying lap.

Daniil Kvyat appeared to have electronic problems with his car, the Russian managing just one installation lap before having to return to the garage for more checks.

The Red Bull driver failed to set a time.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:41.856		20
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:42.137	+0.281	20
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:42.185	+0.329	20
4	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:42.448	+0.592	18
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:42.627	+0.771	18
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:42.726	+0.870	15
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:42.859	+1.003	18
8	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:43.173	+1.317	24
9	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:43.239	+1.383	19
10	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:43.429	+1.573	22
11	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:43.508	+1.652	15
12	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team	1:43.680	+1.824	18
13	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:43.718	+1.862	24
14	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:43.826	+1.970	19
15	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	1:43.928	+2.072	21
16	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:44.014	+2.158	13
17	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:44.325	+2.469	21
18	Will Stevens	Manor	1:47.283	+5.427	16
19	Roberto Merhi	Manor	1:47.520	+5.664	17
	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	No time		2