Trouble for Vettel in FP3 despite Ferrari 1-2

Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of final practice for the Malaysia Grand Prix but teammate Sebastian Vettel was forced to stop due to reliability concerns.

After an encouraging showing on Friday afternoon, Ferrari was again quick in FP3 and led the way with Raikkonen posting a 1m31.880s. The Finn was clearly quicker than Vettel in the first sector on their best laps, with his teammate ending up 0.162s adrift as a result. However, with Vettel preparing for another flying lap late on, the German was told to stop on track before being told he was safe to limp back to the pits in second gear at slow speed.

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The issue ended Vettel's running early, but a lack of improvement from those behind saw him still finish second, with Daniel Ricciardo just 0.049s further back in third place for Red Bull.

Once again there were no Mercedes drivers in the top three as championship leader Lewis Hamilton continued to struggle somewhat. Valtteri Bottas was running the updated Mercedes aerodynamic package in the final session and was fourth quickest, 0.449s off the pace, with Hamilton on the old spec and 0.659s adrift of Raikkonen in fifth.

Max Verstappen was sixth on his 20th birthday – 0.040s behind Hamilton – but saw his attempts to improve right at the end of the session curtailed by a collision with Jolyon Palmer. Palmer – who had complained of his brake pedal going to the floor at the final corner earlier in the session, causing him to take a trip through the gravel before returning to the pits – was on a quick lap and Verstappen was going slowly when the pair made contact at the final corner.

Palmer was closing in quickly and moved to the inside to pass Verstappen when the Red Bull driver accelerated from a wide line to start another flying lap. Palmer locked up but hit the left rear of the Red Bull, spinning Verstappen and giving him a puncture, while the Renault's front wing was broken.

Both drivers were summoned to the stewards at the end of the session to discuss the incident, with the wording of the FIA stewards note suggesting Palmer faces a potential penalty for causing a collision.

Sergio Perez, Felipe Massa, Esteban Ocon and Stoffel Vandoorne rounded out the top ten, with the quartet covered by little more than 0.1s. Vandoorne's teammate Fernando Alonso was 11th quickest but also had an incident at the final corner, spinning on the exit as he accelerated toward the finish line.

Alonso was not the only driver to suffer a spin, with Romain Grosjean losing the rear of his Haas entering Turn 14. After his high-speed crash in FP2 – caused by a loose drain cover – the Frenchman struggled somewhat in the final session and was 18th fastest overall, ahead of only the two Sauber drivers and over a second off teammate Kevin Magnussen who was 13th.