Sebastian Vettel jumped to the top of the times in the closing minutes of final practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, to go quickest ahead of Lewis Hamilton by a tenth.
The Red Bull driver posted a 1:36.435 which was just marginally quicker than Kimi Raikkonen’s best during second practice, despite warmer track conditions.
Hamilton was second ahead of Adrian Sutil in the Force India and Mark Webber in the second RB9.
Meanwhile Raikkonen could only manage fifth after complaining about the cars handling after the team made set-up changes between FP2 and FP3 which weren’t to his liking.
It’s likely they will revert back to the settings he was more comfortable with on Friday afternoon.
Paul di Resta was sixth quickest ahead of Jenson Button and Felipe Massa.
Whilst Hamilton impressed in the Mercedes on low-fuel runs, his team-mate Nico Rosberg concentrated on race pace and looked strong with consistent pace in the low 1:40’s.
Fernando Alonso rounded-off the top ten cars.
Williams meanwhile look to have improved in their Australian pace as Pastor Maldonado secured 11th, whilst team-mate Valtteri Bottas was 15th.
Max Chilton once again completed the timesheets with the slowest lap, almost eight tenths down on Jules Bianchi.
FP3 Times – 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:36.435 | 20 | |
| 02. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:36.568 | +0.133 | 17 |
| 03. | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:36.588 | +0.153 | 19 |
| 04 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:36.613 | +0.178 | 20 |
| 05. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:36.806 | +0.371 | 19 |
| 06. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:36.807 | +0.372 | 18 |
| 07. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:36.822 | +0.387 | 16 |
| 08. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:36.946 | +0.511 | 14 |
| 09. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:36.949 | +0.514 | 25 |
| 10. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:37.302 | +0.867 | 14 |
| 11. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:37.359 | +0.924 | 11 |
| 12. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:37.538 | +1.103 | 12 |
| 13. | N. Hulkenberg | Sauber | 1:37.685 | +1.250 | 23 |
| 14. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:37.690 | +1.255 | 14 |
| 15. | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:37.936 | +1.501 | 16 |
| 16. | E. Guiterrez | Sauber | 1:38.294 | +1.859 | 17 |
| 17. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:38.376 | +1.941 | 16 |
| 18. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:38.425 | +1.990 | 15 |
| 19. | C. Pic | Caterham | 1:38.995 | +2.560 | 18 |
| 20. | J. Bianchi | Marussia | 1:39.717 | +3.282 | 21 |
| 21. | G. van der Garde | Caterham | 1:40.209 | +3.774 | 18 |
| 22. | M. Chilton | Marussia | 1:40.495 | +4.060 | 18 |
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