Hamilton leads Verstappen by over 0.4s in FP3

©WRi2

Lewis Hamilton will start qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix as favourite for pole position after topping the times by over 0.4s in final practice.

Having been 0.2s clear of team-mate Nico Rosberg on Friday, Hamilton extended his advantage over the championship leader to 0.6s with an impressive qualifying simulation run in FP3. The gap to Rosberg was so big he found himself beaten to second place by Max Verstappen, while Rosberg was less than 0.1s clear of Kimi Raikkonen in fourth.

AS IT HAPPENED: Malaysian Grand Prix - FP3

Raikkonen and team-mate Sebastian Vettel were separated by just 0.02s, with Vettel closing the gap on his second flying lap on soft tyres. Raikkonen failed to improve with an extra lap but Vettel's time suggested there is sufficient life in the soft tyres to carry out two laps on each run in qualifying.

Vettel did not enjoy a completely smooth session, however, with the four-time world champion spinning at the final corner as he took a wide line, wiping out the bollard which marks the pit entry.

Daniel Ricciardo was sixth fastest in the final session having completed his low fuel lap much earlier than his rivals. The top ten was completed by Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz and Felipe Massa, while Sergio Perez in 11th was just 0.037s off Sainz, suggesting a close fight for Q3 this afternoon.

Jenson Button will have a place in the top ten in his sights after ending final practice in 12th place, just 0.141s away from ninth, but team-mate Fernando Alonso took a different approach to FP3. Having received an additional 15-place grid penalty - taking him up to 45 in total - for new power unit components, Alonso, who had been in the top ten in both of Friday's sessions, was slowest as he focused on race pace.

Vettel wasn't the first driver to spin at the final corner during the session, with Esteban Gutierrez losing the rear of his Haas and ending up pointing the wrong way on the outside of the track. Rosberg was on a fast lap at the time and had to slow to avoid running wide towards the Mexican.

At the exact same time as Gutierrez's spin, team-mate Romain Grosjean was causing more yellow flags by running wide at Turn 6. The Frenchman caught a slide but ended up taking a trip through the gravel before rejoining, and returned to the pits to have his team check the car after complaining of handling problems.

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Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.434	16
02	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:34.879	14
03	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:35.053	16
04	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:35.150	15
05	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:35.170	14
06	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:35.461	22
07	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:35.776	16
08	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:35.902	17
09	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:36.222	18
10	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:36.227	20
11	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:36.259	15
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:36.363	11
13	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:36.553	14
14	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:36.604	20
15	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:36.687	15
16	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:36.741	19
17	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:36.752	20
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:36.765	19
19	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:37.106	18
20	Esteban Ocon	Manor	1:37.961	17
21	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:38.089	13
22	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:41.199	15

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.