October 10, 2015 – The teams finally got some proper dry running during Saturday morning’s final practice in Sochi, with Nico Mercedes’ Rosberg leading the timesheet, but there was further drama as Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz suffered a heavy accident midway through the session.
Sainz lost control and hit the wall at high speed approaching Turn 13, before burying his car beneath the barriers. Medical crews were quickly on the scene to extract the Spaniard, a process which took some time due to the position of the car. Sainz then, however, gave a thumbs-up to fans as he was stretchered to the medical centre.
| Pos | Driver | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m38.561s | 15 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 0.726s | 17 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 0.802s | 13 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1.055s | 14 |
| 5 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1.314s | 14 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1.356s | 14 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 2.020s | 12 |
| 8 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Mercedes | 2.206s | 13 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 2.639s | 11 |
| 10 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 2.668s | 14 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 2.797s | 15 |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 3.736s | 11 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Mercedes | 3.810s | 14 |
| 14 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 3.889s | 14 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 4.122s | 19 |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 4.125s | 11 |
| 17 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 4.528s | 16 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 4.786s | 14 |
| 19 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia/Ferrari | 8.206s | 19 |
| 20 | Will Stevens | Marussia/Ferrari | 8.688s | 18 |