SUZUKA, Japan -- Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time in the final practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix despite crashing out with 20 minutes remaining.
Bottas lost the rear of his car after running wide at Spoon corner before clipping the barrier with his rear right and front right on the following straight. The damage brought an end to his session and a brief red flag period, but the time he set on the soft compound tyre earlier in the session was still enough to retain the fastest lap when Mercedes' rivals set super-soft times at the end of the session.
It was a dominant display by Mercedes, which held the top two spots by more than 0.3s without completing a qualifying simulation lap on the super-soft tyres. Lewis Hamilton was just 0.014s shy of teammate Bottas, but used his super-soft tyre runs at the end of the session to evaluate two different front wings over two three-lap runs. Bottas will face a five-place grid drop from wherever he qualifies due to an unscheduled gearbox change on Friday night, meaning Hamilton looks set to take pole if Mercedes retains it advantage into qualifying.
Ferrari, meanwhile, stuck to the traditional FP3 run plan by bolting on a fresh set of super-soft tyres at the second half of the session and attempting a qualifying-style run. Kimi Raikkonen went first but his efforts ended in the barrier at Degner 2 when he lost the rear of his Ferrari mid corner, overcorrected the slide and zipped across the gravel trap into the tyres. Sebastian Vettel, who had also explored the gravel trap at Degner 2 earlier in the session, set his fastest time towards the end of the session and finished with a time 0.324s off Bottas.
Max Verstappen was fourth fastest ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, but Red Bull has over half a second to find just to get close to Vettel, let alone trouble the Mercedes drivers. Esteban Ocon set an impressive lap to secure the sixth fastest time ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Renault and Fernando Alonso's McLaren. Alonso faces a 35-place penalty from wherever he qualifies after Honda made a full power unit change on his car overnight.
Jolyon Palmer looks destined to start on the back row of the grid alongside Alonso as he too faces a penalty, albeit for just 20 places, following a power unit change on his Renault. He finished final practice in tenth, one place behind Sergio Perez but ahead of Felipe Massa's Williams and the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne.
Carlos Sainz was 13th fastest but faces a trip to the stewards ahead of qualifying after he skipped the red light at the end of the pit lane when the session resumed after Raikkonen's accident. Realising his mistake, he stopped just beyond it but was in breach of the regulations regardless.
Kevin Magnussen was 14th fastest after Haas fixed the water leak on his car overnight, ahead of Lance Stroll in the Williams, Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso and teammate Romain Grosjean. The two Saubers were 18th and 19th ahead of Raikkonen, who failed to set a competitive time before crashing out.