Da Costa fastest in Practice 3, while reigning champ Jean-Eric Vergne hits another rough patch after a collision with the wall left him limping back to the pits.
For the third and final Practice ahead of the second race in Saudi Arabia, it was DS Techeetah's Antonio Felix da Costa who went fastest with a time of 1:11.084s. As for his teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, the Frenchman was not so fortunate after a collision forced him out of the session.
Behind da Costa, followed three British drivers: yesterday's winner and Envision Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird (1:11.106s), BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Alex Sims (1:11.177s) and Nissan e.dams' Oliver Rowland (1:11.493s).
Early in the session, reigning champ and DS Techeetah driver Jean-Eric Vergne was left limping back to the pits after a collision with the wall caused significant damage to his rear axle. The Frenchman season got off to a tough start yesterday after a steering problem forced him to retire early from the race. With no points and more damage to the car ahead of Qualifying, time will tell if the champ will break the streak of bad luck second time around in Saudi Arabia.
Problems for Massa after he glanced the wall during the practice session forced the Brazilian into the pits for repairs to his front, right wheel. Despite the damage, Massa set a best time of 1:12.223s - good enough to land him in the middle of the field.
With no more practice before Qualifying at 11am (local time), all eyes will be on DS Techeetah who's drivers top and tail the standings. The Franco-Chinese team will be looking to make up for it's disappointing start to the season.