Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap time of the final practice session ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix to complete a hat-trick of topping practices at the Suzuka Circuit.
The German driver set a lap time of 1m32.092 on the soft tyres during the last ten minutes of the session.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was the closest challenger, 0.302s behind Rosberg, ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Max Verstappen.
Kimi Raikkonen was down in sixth after using a second lap to set his fastest time of the session, after having to abort his first lap because of an error at Degner One.
The Finn had set the fastest first sector on that troubled lap before Verstappen bested him.
Lewis Hamilton had an error at Degner Two, meaning his time on the medium tyres was his fastest of the session, putting him in seventh behind Williams’ Felipe Massa.
The session had a slow start with Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean some of the first drivers out on intermediates after overnight rainfall washed the previous day’s work off track.
Throughout the hour of the session, dark clouds hovered over the Suzuka track, but the weather remained dry for drivers to continue their running on soft and medium tyres.
McLaren’s Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso became the first drivers to go out on slicks, on mediums. Alonso set the first time of the session, a 1m35.935, with around 20 minutes of the session gone.
Gutierrez was the first and only driver to go off track during the session, having two incidents in a short period of time. He first hit the damp astroturf at Spoon and drove off the circuit and rejoined the track.
The Mexican then quickly brought out the yellow flags by spinning after going into the Esses section, having to carefully reverse back around to the right direction and complete a three-point turn of sorts.
Rosberg had the early advantage in the session with a lap time of 1m33.230 on the medium tyres after around half an hour of the session to lead Hamilton by 0.054s.
It was a tight gap between the two drivers, with Hamilton having a faster first and final sector than Rosberg after setting his lap after his teammate.
However, these times were usurped by drivers putting on the soft tyres and improving their lap times.
Both Renault drivers were the shocks of the session, with Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen in eighth and ninth.
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten ahead of Alonso and Gutierrez. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas down in 13th, with Hulkenberg’s teammate Sergio Perez in 14th and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat in 15th.
Grosjean finished the session clear of the Sauber’s of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson and Button. Esteban Ocon had supremacy over teammate Pascal Wehrlein in 20th.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz finished in 22nd and last, with his STR11 car suffering a problem which denied him much time on track. His best time was over 24s slower than that of Rosberg’s.
