Rosberg tops FP3 as Hamilton crashes
Nico Rosberg topped the times in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. Team mate Hamilton was still second fastest despite premature end of his session due to a crash at turn 1.
Hamilton's crash ripped off the left front tyre of Hamilton's car and left clearly left Mercedes with a lot of work to do in order to get the car ready for qualifying 2 hours later. The incident also meant that Hamilton was unable to do any runs on the medium tyre in the morning, possibly putting him somewhat on the backfoot for qualifying.
Behind the Silver Arrows, Fernando Alonso was third quickest for Ferrari, just ahead of the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.
Slightly less active during the session was Kimi Raikkonen who saw Ferrari change the engine on his car in preparation for qualifying. Sebastian Vettel meanwhile also got sidelined due to ERS issues on his Renault powered Red Bull.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:33.228 | - | 14 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34.210 | 0.982 | 10 |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:34.439 | 1.211 | 12 |
| 4 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:34.564 | 1.336 | 12 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:35.061 | 1.833 | 16 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:35.086 | 1.858 | 13 |
| 7 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:35.251 | 2.023 | 16 |
| 8 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Str-Renault | 1:35.494 | 2.266 | 8 |
| 9 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Str-Renault | 1:35.538 | 2.310 | 17 |
| 10 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:35.549 | 2.321 | 16 |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:35.732 | 2.504 | 15 |
| 12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:35.995 | 2.767 | 5 |
| 13 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:36.365 | 3.137 | 8 |
| 14 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:36.407 | 3.179 | 22 |
| 15 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:36.460 | 3.232 | 6 |
| 16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:36.558 | 3.330 | 19 |
| 17 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1:36.617 | 3.389 | 12 |
| 18 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:36.626 | 3.398 | 20 |
| 19 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1:37.367 | 4.139 | 12 |
| 20 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:37.883 | 4.655 | 17 |
| 21 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:38.102 | 4.874 | 15 |
| 22 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1:38.784 | 5.556 | 12 |
