LIVE: Malaysian Grand Prix - FP3

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Follow live coverage of the final practice session ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix with F1i.

The Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton traded fastest times throughout the two Friday sessions, with Rosberg leading the opening session before Hamilton hit back to set the pace by 0.2s in FP2. In such a close championship battle, both drivers need a clean session this morning to give themselves the best possible chance of taking pole position this afternoon.

LIVE: Malaysian Grand Prix - FP3

Ferrari was Mercedes' closest challenger on Friday, with the gap around half a second in the second session. Max Verstappen was fifth quickest but Daniel Ricciardo suggested Red Bull would need to make improvements to its one lap pace having been beaten by both Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso in FP2.

Alonso's pace is encouraging for McLaren but the Spaniard will take a 45-place grid penalty after qualifying as a result of power unit component changes. Alonso tested an upgraded Honda on Friday - which is planned to race in Japan next week - before reverting back to an old power unit for the rest of the weekend. However, both Alonso and Jenson Button have new, lightweight exhausts which they will race.

You can follow live coverage of the one-hour practice session with F1i's live commentary page, which will keep you up-to-date with times as well as the latest news from the paddock. You can also get involved by sending in your questions and comments to the F1i team.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.