FP3: Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2

Sebastian Vettel set the pace in Saturday’s final practice for the Singapore Grand Prix as Ferrari and Red Bull got the better of Mercedes.

As with Friday’s second practice, it was Mercedes’ rivals who came to the fore when practice got underway at the Marina Bay circuit.

Daniil Kvyat set the early pace on the soft tyres only to be pipped by the Ferrari pairing.

Vettel, purple in all three sectors, crossed the line with a 1:46.728 to hold down P1 ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

As the artificial lights took over, Kvyat jumped up to second place ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Mercedes drivers of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were fifth and sixth.

Swapping to the supersoft tyres for the final 10 minutes of practice, it was a Ferrari shoot-out for P1.

Raikkonen was quickest in the first sector only to be pipped by Vettel. The Finn was then quickest in the second sector but was once again pipped by his team-mate. Both set personal bests in the third with Vettel crossing the line with a 1:45.682. Raikkonen was 0.450s slower.

Red Bull were the nearest challengers with Kvyat third and Ricciardo fourth. They were 0.4 and 0.6s down respectively.

As for Mercedes, they were again fifth and sixth although this time with Hamilton ahead of Rosberg. Both were more than a second slower than Vettel’s P1 time.

Fernando Alonso impressed with seventh place for McLaren as he finished ahead of Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen and Marcus Ericsson.

Times
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:45.682 12 laps
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:46.132 0.450 12 laps
3 Daniil Kvyat Red BulL 1:46.167 0.485 19 laps
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:46.359 0.677 14 laps
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:46.802 1.120 15 laps
6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:47.223 1.541 16 laps
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:47.237 1.555 14  laps
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:47.301 1.619 19 laps
9 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:47.464 1.782 18 laps
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:47.568 1.886 20 laps
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:47.587 1.905 20 laps
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:47.640 1.958 17 laps
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:47.715 2.033 14 laps
14 Felipe Massa Williams 1:47.733 2.051 22 laps
15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:47.817 2.135 16 laps
16 Sergio Perez Force India 1:48.002 2.320 16 laps
17 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:48.116 2.434 15 laps
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:48.932 3.250 20 laps
19 Alexander Rossi Manor 1:52.588 6.906 27 laps
20 Will Stevens Manor 1:55.293 +9.611 22 laps