Mercedes resumed business as usual in final practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, setting the two fastest times during a dry session.
Nico Rosberg led team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.297s, setting the fastest time in all three sectors. Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest in the Red Bull -- 0.502s off Rosberg -- while the Ferrari drivers left their quick laps later in the session on older tyres, meaning Kimi Raikkonen could only manage sixth fastest and Sebastian Vettel eighth fastest.
Rain on Friday meant teams had to fit all of their dry running into the hour-long session on Saturday morning and so teams did not conduct the usual option tyre run right at the end of the session. Instead drivers completed long runs on both compounds, interspersed with quick laps, making the ultimate times harder to compare.
Williams looks competitive with both cars inside the top five, while Max Verstappen impressed with the seventh fastest time on the track where he made his F1 practice debut last year. Jenson Button gave the local Honda fans something to smile about with the 12th fastest time, but the McLaren was still 2.179s off the pace.
The dry conditions made life easier for the drivers but Daniil Kvyat, Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso all went off the track at Spoon. Kvyat's error on his hot lap helps to account for him being 14th in the standings and over 1.5s off team-mate Ricciardo.