Webber tops final practice
Mark Webber topped the final practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix. The Mercedes cars were closest as Webber's team mate didn't run the medium compound tyre as KERS issues sidelined him in the final quarter of the session.
The track conditions proved much better than on Friday as the times from FP1 and FP2 were easily improved upon.
Romain Grosjean came out fastest when everybody was running the harder tyre, but when drivers started to switch to the option, Mark Webber emerged on top of the timesheet.
There were again a number of drivers going off-track during the session, with Adrian Sutil's error proving to be the most dramatic. The Force India driver lost control of his car on the entry of Spoon Curve. The subsequent slide put his in the barriers, damaging both front and rear end of his car.
On the technical side, Nico Hulkenberg missed a large part of the session while the team were investigating a alert from the gearbox. The German still managed to get out at the end of the session, ending up in 10th.
Sergio Pérez meanwhile is running the spare chassis as McLaren decided a switch from the regular chassis would be appropriate.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:32.053 | - | 17 |
| 2 | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:32.187 | 0.134 | 18 |
| 3 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:32.355 | 0.302 | 18 |
| 4 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:32.707 | 0.654 | 26 |
| 5 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:32.800 | 0.747 | 14 |
| 6 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:32.815 | 0.762 | 14 |
| 7 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:32.869 | 0.816 | 17 |
| 8 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:32.946 | 0.893 | 25 |
| 9 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:33.036 | 0.983 | 8 |
| 10 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:33.076 | 1.023 | 12 |
| 11 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:33.158 | 1.105 | 15 |
| 12 | 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Str-Ferrari | 1:33.260 | 1.207 | 15 |
| 13 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Str-Ferrari | 1:33.490 | 1.437 | 16 |
| 14 | 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:33.638 | 1.585 | 17 |
| 15 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:33.660 | 1.607 | 19 |
| 16 | 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:33.732 | 1.679 | 15 |
| 17 | 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1:33.955 | 1.902 | 18 |
| 18 | 15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:34.773 | 2.720 | 8 |
| 19 | 21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1:35.473 | 3.420 | 20 |
| 20 | 20 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1:35.518 | 3.465 | 18 |
| 21 | 23 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:35.844 | 3.791 | 16 |
| 22 | 22 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:39.378 | 7.325 | 20 |
