A dominant Lewis Hamilton has completed a practice hat-trick for the Japanese Grand Prix.
The world champion, fastest in both sessions at the Suzuka circuit on Friday, was quickest in the wet-dry running before qualifying.
Following a rain shower on Saturday morning, the one-hour running started in damp conditions.
FP3 CLASSIFICATION: Hamilton was quickest, but Vettel wasn’t far behind #JapaneseGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/kFjNGKjzZ6
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 6, 2018
But the track surface began to dry out, and the session ended with an all-too familiar name at the top of the time sheets.
Hamilton, 50 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel with just five rounds remaining, posted a best lap of one minute and 29.599 seconds.
He finished 0.116 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Vettel with Kimi Raikkonen third, nearly half-a-second adrift.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen finished fourth, one spot clear of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.
Ahhh no ? Nico out at Turn 5, hopefully all can be fixed in time for Quali? pic.twitter.com/qdROC1W5hp
— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) October 6, 2018
The session ended prematurely after Nico Hulkenberg crashed out in his Renault.
The German lost control of his car through the Senna Esses chicane to slide backwards into the gravel and end up in the barriers.
Hulkenberg sustained significant damage to the rear of his Renault, and his team now face a race against time to get his car ready for qualifying later on Saturday.
