Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in final practice ahead of qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix with a 1m45.682s lap.
The German was almost half a second clear of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen and the Red Bull drivers of Daniil Kyvat and Daniel Ricciardo. Mercedes once again had baffling pace on the super-soft tyres and could only manage fifth and sixth but over one second away from the leading Ferrari’s. Surprisingly, Fernando Alonso was seventh quickest and only just behind Rosberg giving further indication that Mercedes are either struggling or not running at full pace on their qualifying simulation.
The other teams that were promising for a Q3 position were both Toro Rosso drivers and Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber. The Williams and Force India drivers appear to be struggling for one lap pace and are likely to be fallers in the second part of qualifying.
At the beginning of the session, Daniil Kyvat continued his fine form from Friday and was initially quickest in the session with a lap of 1m47.629s but only half the field set a time in the first 20 minutes of the session. Toro Rosso drivers, Verstappen and Sainz, both suffered early on with braking issues into the turn 7 lefthander and ran wide but managed to avoid contact with the barriers. The corner also caught out several other drivers including Hamilton, Grosjean and Ricciardo.
The Mercedes duo of Rosberg and Hamilton on their runs went a couple of tenths slower than Kyvat but Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel then took over at the top of the timesheets on his first lap on the soft tyres with an impressive 1m46.728s. The four-time champion’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen slotted into second place eight-tenths adrift. Both of the Red Bull drivers improved to within a second and split the Ferrari’s on their second run on the soft tyres.
Meanwhile, debutant Alexander Rossi continued to outpace his more experienced teammate Will Stevens by over two seconds but both drivers are likely to start the race on the back row of the grid following engine change penalties on Friday.
