Rosberg relegated to third; Hamilton nearly a second faster than Rosberg on mediums;
Monday 3 October 2016 09:02, UK
Lewis Hamilton set an ominous pace in final practice for the Malaysia GP as the world champion extended his advantage over Mercedes team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg.
Having set the pace on Friday, when he was two tenths ahead of Rosberg, Hamilton went up another gear during Saturday morning's Practice Three to move almost half a second clear at the top of the timesheets.
But in an encouraging indication that Mercedes will not have it all their own way this weekend at Sepang, Red Bull's Max Verstappen produced a stirring lap during the final stages to leapfrog Rosberg in the standings.
"Verstappen absolutely flying," tweeted Sky F1 analyst Mark Hughes. "Mercedes should still lock out front row but if he can qualify on row two, get among them on lap 1, it's game on."
When's the Malaysia GP on Sky F1?
On their long runs on Friday, Red Bull consistently matched the pace of Mercedes and are expected to be a particularly strong proposition on race day.
Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was sixth quickest, behind Ferrari duo Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. But the Australian's lap was not necessarily representative of his true pace after Ricciardo elected to complete his soft-running stint at the start of the hour-long session.
Hamilton's advantage over Rosberg was even more pronounced when the two Mercedes drivers were using hard tyres when Rosberg was outpaced by almost a full second.
When the two Silver Arrows switched to the softs for their qualifying simulations, Hamilton's lapped in 1:34.434 - six tenths better than Rosberg's best.
Practice Three timesheet
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:34.434
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, + 0.445
3. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, + 0.619
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, + 0.716
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, + 0.736
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, + 1.027
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, + 1.342
8. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, + 1.468
9. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, + 1.788
10. Felipe Massa, Williams, + 1.793
11. Sergio Perez, Force India, + 1.825
12. Jenson Button, McLaren, + 1.9289
13. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, + 2.119
14. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, + 2.170
15. Romain Grosjean, Haas, + 2.253
16. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, + 2.307
17. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, + 2.318
18. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, + 2.331
19. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, + 2.672
20, Esteban Ocon, Manor, + 3.527
21. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, + 3.655
22. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, + 6.765
