Mark Webber was quickest in the final practice session for Red Bull, a tenth of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton.
However Sebastian Vettel was unable to complete a qualifying simulation on the softer medium tyres at the end of the session due to a KERS problem on his car.
The two Mercedes drivers were next-quickest, Hamilton beating Webber’s first sector time with his final run.
Romain Grosjean was fourth despite having done his medium-tyre lap earlier in the session. Lotus pursued a different arrangement for practice with Kimi Raikkonen doing high-fuel running at the end of practice having been unable to do so yesterday.
The Ferraris were fifth and sixth with Jenson Button’s McLaren almost matching their pace on the medium tyre.
Adrian Sutil was the latest driver to fall victim to the demanding Suzuka course. The Force India driver lost control of his car at the exit of Spoon Curve and knocked his front nose off on the barrier at the inside of the corner.
That bend posed problems for several drivers including both the Ferrari pilots who were visibly struggling with oversteer at the exit. A change in wind direction meant drivers now had a tailwind to contend with there and on the pit straight.
Lap times improved by almost two seconds compared with yesterday. Hamilton noted during the session the track was now offering “more grip”.
Complete practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’34.787 | 1’34.020 | 1’32.053 | -1.967 | 63 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’34.157 | 1’34.442 | 1’32.187 | -1.97 | 73 |
3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’34.487 | 1’34.114 | 1’32.355 | -1.759 | 73 |
4 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’35.179 | 1’34.411 | 1’32.707 | -1.704 | 71 |
5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’35.154 | 1’35.087 | 1’32.800 | -2.287 | 62 |
6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’35.126 | 1’34.698 | 1’32.815 | -1.883 | 63 |
7 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’35.868 | 1’34.912 | 1’32.869 | -2.043 | 73 |
8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’35.364 | 1’34.202 | 1’32.946 | -1.256 | 59 |
9 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’34.768 | 1’33.852 | 1’33.036 | -0.816 | 76 |
10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’35.900 | 1’35.182 | 1’33.076 | -2.106 | 64 |
11 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1’35.450 | 1’35.709 | 1’33.158 | -2.292 | 50 |
12 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’36.066 | 1’35.109 | 1’33.260 | -1.849 | 69 |
13 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’35.635 | 1’34.473 | 1’33.490 | -0.983 | 65 |
14 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’36.178 | 1’36.722 | 1’33.638 | -2.54 | 35 |
15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’36.399 | 1’35.275 | 1’33.660 | -1.615 | 72 |
16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’36.760 | 1’35.089 | 1’33.732 | -1.357 | 73 |
17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’36.340 | 1’36.136 | 1’33.955 | -2.181 | 82 |
18 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’36.165 | 1’35.341 | 1’34.773 | -0.568 | 52 |
19 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1’38.025 | 1’37.905 | 1’35.473 | -2.432 | 71 |
20 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1’37.630 | 1’35.518 | -2.112 | 49 | |
21 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’38.763 | 1’38.121 | 1’35.844 | -2.277 | 67 |
22 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1’37.595 | 22 | |||
23 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’37.629 | 1’39.378 | +1.749 | 28 |
2013 Japanese Grand Prix
- Grosjean voted Driver of the Weekend for first time
- Webber still has doubts over Japanese GP strategy
- Japanese Grand Prix gets average rating for 2013
- 2013 Japanese Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2013 Japanese Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
Image © Red Bull/Getty
BasCB (@bascb)
12th October 2013, 4:10
Hm, I still expect Vettel to get it on pole. But it could be tight with both his teammate pushing him and the Mercs (+Grosjean) being right on his heels today.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
12th October 2013, 4:10
Darn it. The guy suffers the failure at Practice. It must be bad for him, but I’d rather have him start 9th or something to make it interesting.
Dammit faulty KERS. Couldn’t you just hang on until Q3 and then BANG?! jeez… some KERSes just want to see the world bored, huh? :P
George (@george)
12th October 2013, 16:34
@fer-no65
You should say these things more often :D
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
12th October 2013, 17:13
@george I shooooooooooooould :D !
Chris (@tophercheese21)
12th October 2013, 4:12
I really hope the Mercs can challenge the RBR’s both today and tomorrow.
Not gonna hold my breath, but it is Suzuka and anything can happen.
kcarrey (@kcarrey)
12th October 2013, 4:19
even if vettel gone pointless for the remaining races, he’ll still be champion.
Ferrari’s pace is lagging behind MGP and maybe Lotus.
Hyoko
12th October 2013, 9:50
Not so sure. If SV wouldn’t score in the 5 remaining races, FA would need 78 pts to win. That’s not out of the question, specially whitout SV taking away the big points. In the last five races FA got 5th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd and 6th, that is 72 pts, not enough. But SV was always on top (3rd, 1st, 1st,1st, 1st), hence FA would have hauled 97 pts (one 4th, three victories, one 5th), everything being the same except for SV not scoring. Plenty more than needed (say, four 3rds and one 2nd would be enough). For Lewis and Kimi it would be harder, Kimi would need three victories plus two 3rds (or one 2nd plus one 4th) or better, or 4 victories plus one 7th or better, or all 5 victories; Lewis would need 4 victories plus one 4th or better.
In all probability SV is going to score lots of points in the the next races, so all this is moot. Getting the WDC tomorrow is not very likely for him, even with the victory; FA should be able to finish 8th or better. But I bet it all will be over in India.