Nico Rosberg went quickest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian as Sauber’s Felipe Nasr hit the wall and McLaren’s Jenson Button suffered a power unit issue that will keep him out of qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, struggled this morning, finishing the hour-long session in last place.

Once on track, Rosberg climbed to the top of the timesheets in the opening phase of the session on soft tyres, topping the times with a lap of 1:16.783 ahead of the Williams machines of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, with Sebastian Vettel fourth in front of Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat.

Rosberg’s time was them beaten by Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen who lapped in 1:16.761, while Lotus again showed well, with Romain Grosjean running just a thousandth of a second off Rosberg’s time.

Hamilton, meanwhile, was struggling to find a rhythm. He abandoned his first run on softs and was languishing in last place as the first red flag of the session appeared.

With 20 minutes left on the clock Nasr lost control as he tried to get heat into his tyres and slammed into the wall on the back straight.

When the debris had been cleared and the session re-started, the qualifying sims began on the superosft tyre.

Hamilton was one of the first out but the Briton outbraked himself into the first corner on his flying lap. Rosberg looked more comfortable, however, and posted a lap of 1:15.660 to head the times. Räikkönen then went second with his best lap, a 1:16.233, while Grojean hung on to third place with a lap of 1:16.772, 1.1s off Rosberg’s best time.

Then with six minutes remaining Button pulled over at the side of the track at Turn 7, with an ERS-related problem that will see him miss qualifying.

There were also engine problems for team-mate Fernando Alonso, who only managed three laps and for Max Verstappen whose car required an overnight power unit change. That means that the Dutch teenager will drop 10 places on the grid. The Toro Rosso man will already take a five-place penalty imposed following his Monaco collision with Grosjean.

2015 Canadian Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.660  17
2 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.233 0.573 20
3 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:16.772 1.112 14
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:16.914 1.254 17
5 Sergio Perez Force India 1:16.993 1.333 16
6 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:17.021 1.361 19
7 Felipe Massa Williams 1:17.122 1.462 18
8 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:17.197 1.537 18
9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:17.396 1.736 25
10 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:17.573 1.913 12
11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:17.578 1.918 21
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:17.876 2.216 14
13 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:17.892 2.232 18
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:18.446 2.786 12
15 Jenson Button McLaren 1:18.473 2.813 18
16 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:18.492 2.832 18
17 Will Stevens Manor 1:19.822 4.162 16
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:19.874 4.214 3
19 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:20.231 4.571 16
20 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.492 5.832 9