Nico Rosberg set the pace for Mercedes in third and final practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
The championship leader led for most of the session, which started in damp conditions but dried out, improving his lap in the final minutes with a soft-tyre qualifying simulation run.
Rosberg’s 1m32.092 enabled him to make it a practice clean-sweep, three tenths clear of Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.
Sebastian Vettel was six tenths behind Rosberg in third, with Max Verstappen a little further back in forth and Kimi Raikkonen fifth.
The Finnish driver had to back off on his first soft-tyre lap, before going again. Lewis Hamilton was seventh, behind Felipe Massa, after a mistake meant he was forced to back off on his qualifying sim.
His medium compound lap from earlier in the session was good enough for seventh, 1.2 seconds down on Rosberg’s soft tyre run.
Renault showed encouraging pace with Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen eighth and ninth, setting identical times. Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10.
Fernando Alonso, Esteban Gutierrez – who suffered a spin early on – and Valtteri Bottas were next up. Jenson Button continued to struggle and found himself down in 19th.
Carlos Sainz Jr.’s session suffered a hit with a reliability issue, which meant he finished the session last and well off the pace.
