Hamilton tops final practice, Verstappen edges closer

F1 Grand Prix, GP Malaysia, Sepang International Circuit

Lewis Hamilton started Saturday's running at Malaysia like he ended on Friday, by topping the timesheet of a practice session. Hamilton was comfortably fastest while Red Bull's Max Verstappen edged out Nico Rosberg to set the second fastest time.

Hamilton repositioned himself at the front with a run on soft tyres, after both Red Bulls had been topping the times after their runs on medium tyres proved quicker than what the competition had managed thus far.

Neither Ferrari drew the spotlights to them, but in the end they ended 4th and 5th fastest, with Raikkonen once again ahead of Vettel.

Behind the three teams that appear to be dominating the second half of the season, it was Nico Hulkenberg who proved best of the rest. Bottas was 8th fastest for Williams as the team managed to find some pace and break into the top 10 following disappointing performances in Friday's free practice sessions. Carlos Sainz was 9th fastest and Felipe Massa 10th.

On a less positive note, Romain Grosjean had some troubling moments in his Haas while Fernando Alonso ended the session in 22nd place, having hit trouble on his car. The Spaniard had switched back to his Mk3 specification ICE as planned, but saw his grid position penalties reach 30, thanks to yesterday's new engine, along with fitting a new turbo and MGU-H today.