Singapore FP3: Vettel tops with Mercedes on back foot

Sebastian Vettel led Kimi Räikkönen to a Ferrari 1-2 in final practice for the Singapore Grand Prix as Mercedes once again slipped down the order, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finishing in fifth and sixth respectively, over a second off the pace.

Third place went to Friday evening’s fastest man Daniil Kvyat, with Red Bull Racing team-mate Daniel Ricciardo fourth ahead of the Mercedes pair, who were both over a second adrift of Vettel.

In the opening phases of the session, on the prime soft tyre, Vettel was comfortably quickest, with the German jumping to the top of the timesheet after 24 minutes with a lap of 1:46.728 that put him almost a second clear of previous P1 man Kvyat. Räikkönen then stole into P2 though he was only marginally quicker than the Russian Red Bull driver.

Kvyat bounced back to reclaim P2 with a time of 1:47.249 that left him half a second down on Vettel and then Ricciardo further separated the Ferraris by claiming P3 with a lap two tenths adrift of his team-mate.

As the field headed back to the pit lane to make the switch to the supersoft tyres Rosberg was the quickest of the Mercedes drivers

Ricciardo was the first of the front runners to make a move on the supersoft, with the Australian claiming P1 by 0.369 of a second as he benefited from the better grip on offer.

Raikkonen quickly bypassed Ricciardo with a lap of 1:46.132 and then Vettel set the session’s ultimate benchmark with a lap of 1:45.682 that left him almost half a second clear of Räikkönen. Vettel was the only driver to dip below the 106 seconds mark during the session.

Hamilton and Rosberg, meanwhile, were visibly struggling for pace with Hamilton in fifth by 1.1 seconds and Rosberg a further four tenths of a second back, in sixth place. The Mercedes response was telling: “No disguising the potential here,” the team admitted, “the pace of our rivals is genuine and very quick.”

After finishing FP2 in eighth place yesterday, Fernando Alonso went one better for McLaren in final practice and the Spaniard ended the session just one hundredth of a second behind Rosberg as the power deficit of the team’s Honda engine was partially eradicate on the street circuit.

Alonso was followed, in P8, by compatriot Carlos Sainz whose best lap for Toro Rosso was a 1:47.301, justy over six hundredths of a second down on two-time Singapore Grand Prix winner Alonso.

Ninth place in the session went to Sainz’s team-mate Max Verstappen and the top 10 order was completed Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson who was just under two seconds off Vettel’s blistering pace.

[highlight ]Singapore Grand Prix, Marina Bay Circuit - Free Practice 3 Result[/highlight]