Carlos Sainz gets caught out by the wet surface as he runs a little wide coming out of Turn 17. No major drama as he rights himself and gets back on his way.

Max Verstappen puts down his best lap of the session so far as a 2:00.806 sees him up into P1 before he pits, leaving Carlos Sainz briefly alone on the circuit before Sergio Perez joins him.

Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz gets his name on the timing board with a 2:03.805, briefly popping him into P2 before Verstappen goes 1.5s faster.

The sky is a bit brighter above the circuit, but some of the track still look very wet.

Max Verstappen is out and sets the second fastest lap of the afternoon, a 2:04.858 which is 3.8s off Fernando Alonso's time. 

Busy, busy, busy! Daniil Kvyat gives the home fans something to cheer about as he becomes the seventh driver to head out on to the circuit.

A bit more action on the circuit, with 28 minutes remaining. Just as I thought I was going to lose you to the adventures of Bergerac as well...

Lewis Hamilton is out for the first time in this session. Fernando Alonso has completed the most about of laps of any driver in this session, with a whopping seven...

Here's the selfie Romain Grosjean is talking about...

Image source, Lotus

Jennie Gow has caught a word with Romain Grosjean, who is competing in his final few races at Lotus before joining new team Haas F1 next season. How has he found the day so far?

"Boring. The rain came just before FP2 so we did a selfie with the team, we discussed the track but it looks like one part is wet so no point running. We'll just have to wait and do all the work on Saturday morning."

Is the title out of reach for Nico Rosberg? Not mathematically, but it is looking increasingly unlikely as he trails Lewis Hamilton by 48 points with five races remaining.

The circuit briefly falls silent as Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas head in, but Nico Rosberg decides to join the fray for the first time this afternoon and give the patient Sochi crowd something to cheer about.

Fernando Alonso continues to put some laps in and lowers his best time to 2:01.077.

Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas provides feedback on his stint on the track: "It is quite tricky conditions Turn 12 to the exit of Turn 1 is quite wet."

We have a time on the board! A very tentative 2:05.599 from Fernando Alonso but the clouds are clearing and Valtteri Bottas decides it is time to have his first venture on the circuit.