Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheet in Saturday's final free practice session, edging Lewis Hamilton by 0.217s in a session dominated by a Ferrari-Mercedes quartet.
Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen lined up behind their leaders while Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were unable to challenge their rivals.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:07.948s | 17 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:08.165s | + 0.217s | 15 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:08.465s | + 0.517s | 23 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:08.490s | + 0.542s | 17 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:08.733s | + 0.785s | 12 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:08.788s | + 0.840s | 12 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:09.146s | + 1.198s | 14 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:09.257s | + 1.309s | 16 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 1:09.402s | + 1.454s | 22 |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | 1:09.448s | + 1.500s | 21 |
| 11 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:09.461s | + 1.513s | 19 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1:09.588s | + 1.640s | 18 |
| 13 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:09.808s | + 1.860s | 23 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1:09.864s | + 1.916s | 17 |
| 15 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | 1:09.885s | + 1.937s | 14 |
| 16 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1:09.985s | + 2.037s | 18 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Williams | 1:10.001s | + 2.053s | 17 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:10.020s | + 2.072s | 15 |
| 19 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:10.116s | + 2.168s | 18 |
| 20 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1:10.289s | + 2.341s | 16 |
Wednesday at Interlagos dawned with typically Brazilian weather - warm and cloudy - and the usual threat of rain, but drivers made their way to a dry track for the final 60 minutes of free practice before this afternoon's crucial qualifying shootout.
Sauber's Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson were the first to head out but Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen punched in the first relevant time with a 1m09.424s on supersofts.
The Finn was quickly overhauled however by Sebastian Vettel who shaved 0.8s off his tea mate's time.
Worries erupted in the Mercedes camp when Hamilton was called back to the pits where a diagnosis eventually revealed a dislodged breather pipe. The issues was diligently dealt with by the Silver Arrows squad, the Brit rejoining the action after a 20-minute delay.
In the interim, Bottas was snapping at Vettel's but unable to put in a faster lap than the German.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo slotted himself into fourth before Hamilton took up the spot to complete a Ferrari/Mercedes quartet.
With 20 minutes of running time left, Vettel put his head time and clocked in with a 1m07.948s lap under his belt that represented a new lap record of Interlagos
A lull in track activity encouraged Hamilton to tempt a lap on the supersofts. The effort brought an improvement but the Mercedes driver was still two tenths down on Vettel.
The indication in FP3 pointed to a two-way fight between Ferrari and Mercedes as the pair appeared out of reach of Red Bull, with Max Verstappen - the faster of the bulls - outpaced by 0.785s by Vettel.
Behind the top-six, Kevin Magnussen concluded the session as best of the rest, edging Haas team mate Romain Grosjean, while Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly and Sauber's Charles Leclerc rounded off the top-ten.
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