Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two in the final practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix as Mercedes made some progress in reducing the deficit they had yesterday.
However it wasn’t a trouble-free session for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel toured slowly into the pits at the end of the session.
Raikkonen led his team mate by a tenth of a second with Daniel Ricciardo in close attendance in his Red Bull. His team mate was four-tenths of a second back following an incident with Jolyon Palmer at the end of the session.
Verstappen had backed off approaching the final corner when he was caught by Palmer, who was on a flying lap. The Renault driver tried to squeeze down the inside of Verstappen’s car but the pair made contact, removing part of Palmer’s front wing and leaving Verstappen with a puncture.
The two Mercedes separated the Red Bull pair. Valtteri Bottas was four-tenths of a second down on Raikkonen, Hamilton a further two-tenths down following a scruffy final run.
Both Force Indias appeared in the top ten, separated by Felipe Massa’s Williams. Stoffel Vandoorne edged team mate Fernando Alonso out for tenth.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’31.880 | 19 | |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’32.042 | 0.162 | 14 |
| 3 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’32.091 | 0.211 | 16 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’32.329 | 0.449 | 24 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’32.539 | 0.659 | 20 |
| 6 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’32.579 | 0.699 | 17 |
| 7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’33.209 | 1.329 | 20 |
| 8 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.240 | 1.360 | 20 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’33.290 | 1.410 | 21 |
| 10 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’33.321 | 1.441 | 16 |
| 11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’33.530 | 1.650 | 17 |
| 12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.538 | 1.658 | 21 |
| 13 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’33.787 | 1.907 | 10 |
| 14 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’33.871 | 1.991 | 14 |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’33.924 | 2.044 | 22 |
| 16 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’34.206 | 2.326 | 24 |
| 17 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’34.475 | 2.595 | 12 |
| 18 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’34.914 | 3.034 | 19 |
| 19 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’34.936 | 3.056 | 19 |
| 20 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’35.045 | 3.165 | 19 |
Third practice visual gaps
Kimi Raikkonen – 1’31.880
+0.162 Sebastian Vettel – 1’32.042
+0.211 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’32.091
+0.449 Valtteri Bottas – 1’32.329
+0.659 Lewis Hamilton – 1’32.539
+0.699 Max Verstappen – 1’32.579
+1.329 Sergio Perez – 1’33.209
+1.360 Felipe Massa – 1’33.240
+1.410 Esteban Ocon – 1’33.290
+1.441 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’33.321
+1.650 Fernando Alonso – 1’33.530
+1.658 Lance Stroll – 1’33.538
+1.907 Kevin Magnussen – 1’33.787
+1.991 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’33.871
+2.044 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’33.924
+2.326 Pierre Gasly – 1’34.206
+2.595 Jolyon Palmer – 1’34.475
+3.034 Romain Grosjean – 1’34.914
+3.056 Marcus Ericsson – 1’34.936
+3.165 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’35.045
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’51.009 | 1’31.261 | 1’32.042 | +0.781 | 49 |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’50.734 | 1’31.865 | 1’31.880 | +0.015 | 50 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’49.719 | 1’32.099 | 1’32.091 | -0.008 | 47 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’48.962 | 1’32.109 | 1’32.579 | +0.47 | 39 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’52.007 | 1’32.720 | 1’32.329 | -0.391 | 55 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’51.518 | 1’32.677 | 1’32.539 | -0.138 | 43 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’50.597 | 1’32.564 | 1’33.530 | +0.966 | 37 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’54.669 | 1’32.862 | 1’33.209 | +0.347 | 44 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’33.060 | 1’33.871 | +0.811 | 38 | |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’53.896 | 1’33.096 | 1’33.290 | +0.194 | 51 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.394 | 1’33.240 | -0.154 | 43 | |
| 12 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’53.771 | 1’33.673 | 1’33.321 | -0.352 | 41 |
| 13 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’53.625 | 1’33.381 | 1’34.475 | +1.094 | 48 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’52.295 | 1’33.818 | 1’33.538 | -0.28 | 46 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’34.343 | 1’33.787 | -0.556 | 27 | |
| 16 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’34.104 | 1’33.924 | -0.18 | 41 | |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’52.380 | 1’34.043 | 1’34.206 | +0.163 | 60 |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’56.211 | 1’34.118 | 1’34.914 | +0.796 | 45 |
| 19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’35.697 | 1’34.936 | -0.761 | 46 | |
| 20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’55.652 | 1’35.246 | 1’35.045 | -0.201 | 58 |
| 21 | Sergey Sirotkin | Renault | 1’53.521 | 10 | |||
| 22 | Sean Gelael | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’54.610 | 13 | |||
| 23 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’55.280 | 10 | |||
| 24 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas-Ferrari | 1’56.339 | 6 |
Don’t forget your Predictions Championship entry
Enter your predictions for this weekend’s race before qualifying begins:
Jimmy5.0L
30th September 2017, 7:52
Kimi looking quick. Good to see.
G
30th September 2017, 7:56
I thought Vettel did 1.31.2 yesterday in FP2, but in the combined times it now shows 1:32.6, am I missing something?
@HoHum (@hohum)
30th September 2017, 7:58
MB to find even more speed in Q3. Meanwhile they’ll keep the wick turned down to get the most life out of their engines.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
30th September 2017, 9:09
@hohum If they were protecting engines, they would simply run less, and not the equal most laps of the session.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
30th September 2017, 8:01
Something happened to Seb, croft and Kravitz delighted, that’s all that I could infer. On the other channel they have no idea what’s going on, particularly technical stuff. On sky they are on top of things but they askew everything and rejoice in infuriating most f1 fans with relentlessness bias.
Ju88sy (@)
30th September 2017, 8:03
Caught the end of the session, that was scrappy from Max who was fully aware of Jolyon coming up fast to finish his lap and ruined both drivers flying laps. Interesting to see what Mercedes will do with a split setup on the cars for the session. Hamilton’s fastest lap was scruffy so which way will they go? The car looked a handful with the back end moving around.
@HoHum (@hohum)
30th September 2017, 8:06
Leaving out the FP1 wet track, DanR is looking pretty consistent.
Tom
30th September 2017, 8:12
Vettel having a full power unit change to an old spec could help Kimi to pole. I expect if that the case he’ll be swiftly moved aside tomorrow tho. Mercedes are just confusing this weekend. Looked to finally have the pace with Hamilton going fastest early on, but nowhere when it got hotter (as it will be in qualifying) I’d be surprised if Hamilton gets top 3 here.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
30th September 2017, 8:35
it will be the new spec.
David Searle (@searlo)
30th September 2017, 8:43
I have to admit I’m impressed with Gasly.