Sebastian Vettel has ended the third and final practice session fastest for Ferrari, after an exceptionally wet final hour of practice in preparation for the all-important qualifying hour.
The German racer was followed home at the sharp end of the order by the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez in the Force India, with a whole host of big names electing against completing timed lap altogether due to the inclement weather conditions.
The session began in atrocious weather conditions, with heavy and persistent rain plaguing proceedings from the word go.
However, the rain soon began to stop and eventually Bottas and team-mate Felipe Massa became the first drivers to brave the elements and leave the confines of the pits.
Despite starting the session on Pirelli’s Cinturato full wet tyres, the field soon switched to the intermediate tyre as the session progressed and the conditions gradually began to improve.
Carlos Sainz ended proceedings fourth fastest for Toro Rosso, ahead of Esteban Gutierrez in the Haas.
The Mexican was plagued with mechanical issues during yesterday’s two practice sessions, and was therefore eager to make up for lost time.
Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen were sixth and seventh fastest respectively for Renault, with the Briton in particular suffering from an ominous right-rear puncture during the session.
After limping back to the pits his Renault mechanics completed several checks on the tyre, with speculation that parts of the chassis may well have bene rubbing against the tyre and causing it to puncture.
Pascal Wehrlein ended final practice an impressive eighth for Manor Racing, completing eight laps in total and impressing the team greatly.
Max Verstappen and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.
Meanwhile Felipe Nasr, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa and Rio Haryanto were the only remaining drivers who completed a timed lap, with many drivers electing against completing a timed lap due to the inclement weather conditions.
This included the Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull duos, as well as Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber who was struck with hydraulic issues throughout the session.
The teams and drivers will now crunch the numbers ahead of the all-important qualifying hour later in the day.
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