Singapore GP: Vettel tops final practice, Mercedes off the pace

Vettel used the super-soft tyres to post a 1:45.682, the best time of the weekend and finish in front of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who was nearly half a second slower than the German.

Red Bull duo Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo had another strong session, finishing in third and fourth respectively.

The most surprising performance, however, came from Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton down in fifth over a full second off Vettel's pace.

Teammate Nico Rosberg finished in sixth in one of the dominant team's most subbed showings of the season.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso was seventh fastest for McLaren, ahead of compatriot and Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz.

Max Verstappen and Marcus Ericsson completed the top 10 for Toro Rosso and Sauber.

Manor's Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens were the first drivers to set a time, as they tried to make the most of the session following a lack of running in FP2 yesterday.

Kvyat returned to the top of the times quickly, however, before yellow flags appeared on track after Verstappen went off at Turn 5. The Toro Rosso driver managed to rejoin without any damage.

The Dutchman bounced back from the incident to go second quickest after the 10-minute mark, as Kvyat improved to a 1:47.968.

Most of the frontrunners waited for their rivals to clean the track before venturing out for their runs, with Rosberg slotting himself in third with his first timed lap of the session, set nearly 20 minutes after the start.

Hamilton took longer than his teammate to appear on the timesheets, the Briton going second quickest with his first run on softs after the 20-minute mark.

Ricciardo, Vettel and Raikkonen also failed to set a time in the first third on the session.

Vettel jumped to P1 with his first run on soft tyres, the Ferrari driver setting a new benchmark of 1:46.728, as Hamilton triggered a yellow-flag period when he went off at Turn 7.

McLaren's Jenson Button spent half the session in the garage, only setting a time after the halfway point.

The qualifying simulations with super-soft tyres kicked off with some 10 minutes to go, with Ricciardo taking first place but by less than four tenths from Vettel, who had set his earlier time on softs.

Raikkonen then set the quickest time of the weekend at that point, posting a 1:46.132 that was quickly bettered by Vettel, the first man to lap in the 1:45s all weekend.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:45.682		12
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:46.132	+0.450	12
3	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	1:46.167	+0.485	19
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:46.359	+0.677	14
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:46.802	+1.120	15
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:47.223	+1.541	16
7	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:47.237	+1.555	14
8	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:47.301	+1.619	18
9	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:47.464	+1.782	17
10	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:47.568	+1.886	20
11	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:47.587	+1.905	20
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:47.640	+1.958	16
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:47.715	+2.033	14
14	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:47.733	+2.051	21
15	Pastor Maldonado	Team Lotus	1:47.817	+2.135	16
16	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:48.002	+2.320	15
17	Romain Grosjean	Team Lotus	1:48.116	+2.434	15
18	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:48.932	+3.250	20
19	Alexander Rossi	Manor	1:52.588	+6.906	26
20	Will Stevens	Manor	1:55.293	+9.611	22