Rosberg quickest in final practice at Malaysia
Nico Rosberg once again set the benchmark in the final session ahead of qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest with the Ferrari drivers once again third and fourth.
In blistering hot conditions - one engineer recorded a track temperature of 62°C - the Ferrari's of Raikkonen and Vettel were a little bit further behind the Mercedes duo, with the Finn 6 tenths slower than Raikkonen, a few tenths more than on Friday.
Behind them however, the competition stiffened up with the top 8 all within 1 second on their fastest laps.
Further back, McLaren's Fernando Alonso managed to set the 15th fastest time, another small improvement over Friday, but still more than 2 seconds adrift of the field leading Mercedes AMG F1 W06.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Best | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:39.690 | - | 13 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:39.874 | 0.184 | 10 | |
| 3 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:40.245 | 0.555 | 9 | |
| 4 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:40.266 | 0.576 | 13 | |
| 5 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:40.391 | 0.701 | 14 | |
| 6 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:40.406 | 0.716 | 15 | |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:40.590 | 0.900 | 19 | |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:40.601 | 0.911 | 19 | |
| 9 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:40.989 | 1.299 | 18 | |
| 10 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:41.200 | 1.510 | 19 | |
| 11 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:41.206 | 1.516 | 16 | |
| 12 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:41.592 | 1.902 | 18 | |
| 13 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:41.776 | 2.086 | 14 | |
| 14 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:41.804 | 2.114 | 15 | |
| 15 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:41.991 | 2.301 | 13 | |
| 16 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:42.100 | 2.410 | 14 | |
| 17 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:42.117 | 2.427 | 18 | |
| 18 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:42.319 | 2.629 | 13 | |
| 19 | 98 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:46.647 | 6.957 | 9 | |
| 20 | 28 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:47.059 | 7.369 | 6 |
