Verstappen leads Ferrari pair in final Japanese GP practice

Max Verstappen set the fastest lap in Saturday's final practice at Suzuka, the Red Bull driver edging Ferrari's Carlos Sainz by 0.294s in the first dry session of the race weekend.

Charles Leclerc clocked in third in the active but incident-free running, with Alpine's Fernando Alonso lining up fourth, just ahead of Sergio Perez.

Just outside the top-five, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton concluded FP3 P6 and P7 for Mercedes.

Times to follow…

After Friday's rain drenched day at Suzuka, teams were finally facing drier prospects on Saturday for the final dress rehearsal before qualifying.

Mercedes' George Russell led a contingent of cars out on the track, with a whole mix of tyres on display as teams kicked off their various run plans and played catch-up in the dry conditions after yesterday's washed-out sessions.

Verstappen lost no time getting down to business, the Red Bull charger setting a 1m32.050s benchmark lap that outpaced his nearest rival – or teammate Sergio Perez – by over a second.

The top runners and indeed many others proceeded in short order with race-sim rums, so there was little change in the pecking order up front.

Mercedes' chargers nevertheless got going with some proper flyers on the soft tyre that positioned Russell and Lewis Hamilton just behind Verstappen.

But that mix was quickly broken up by Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with both Alpine drivers running on the mediums.

However, a good effort from Sainz propelled the Spaniard to the top with a 1m30.965s that Leclerc approached to slot in second.

After a lull in the track activity, qualifying sims became the norm and as the front-runners ramped up the pace, Verstappen knocked Sainz off the top spot with a 1m30.671s that put the Dutchman conclusively out of reach inthe closing stages of the session.

FP3 thus concluded with a Red Bull-Ferrari top three followed by Alonso and Perez who completed the top-five.

Thereafter followed Russell and Hamilton while McLaren's Lando Norris, Ocon and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll rounded off the top ten.

It was worth noting that after his costly crash on Friday, Mick Schumacher enjoyed an error-free 60 minutes of running which he concluded 16th just behind Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen.

But the news this morning of Pierre Gasly's move to Alpine did little to boost his speed, with the Frenchman bookending FP3.

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