Vettel confirms blistering Red Bull pace in final practice

F1 Grand Prix, GP Japan, Circuit Suzuka

Sebastian Vettel recorded the quickest lap around Suzuka during the final practice session ahead of qualifying. The World Champion went fastest in a last-minute lap, pipping his team mate Mark Webber from the top of the timesheet.

Michael Schumacher had the fastest time in hand 5 minutes from the end of the session, but then of course many tried a final qualifying lap to see what to expect from the soft tyres. That didn't come without issues however, as several drivers saw their laps ruined by backmarkers. Lewis Hamilton for instance had to avoid an extremely slow running Marussia after the high speed 130R corner, eventually missing the next chicane. In fact neither McLaren driver managed to set a clean lap, hance their somewhat disappointing best laptimes.

Ferrari and Alonso meanwhile also made attempts to set a flying lap but neither driver was able to match the pace of the front running McLaren and Red Bull drivers. Massa was the better of the two, albeit more than half a second off the pace of the Red Bulls. Fernando Alonso is ranked lowly in 11th place.

Nico Hulkenberg's day meanwhile came to an early end 20 minutes earlier as the Force India driver lost control of his car in the second Degner curve, crashing off and damaging the front left part of his car.