Lewis Hamilton was just fastest in the final practice session, 0.069s ahead of Sebastian Vettel, and three and five tenths clear of Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen.

FP3 remained warm, with breezy conditions and a headwind on the main straight.

From the first few minutes Jenson Button started his not-so-happy messages, struggling with “no rear grip at all” and poor traction. He had a lot to work with following almost no running in the Friday practices.

Later on, Felipe Nasr and Romain Grosjean tested the track limits running wide, Pastor Maldonado left some bodywork on the road, and Daniil Kvyat forgot to apply the brakes after a spin and beached his car on the gravel at Turn 4, resulting in a red flag.

With the track cleared, it was Nico Hulkenberg the first to venture into the soft — and faster — tyre over the last few minutes, and then followed the rest, leading to the Mercedes’ having a look at how close Ferrari is.

Next up in Qualifying, can someone remove Hamilton from the top spot? He’s looking to find his fourth pole position of the season, having grabbed the last three in Australia, Malaysia and China.

The top ten:
1. Hamilton — 1:34.599
2. Vettel — +0.069
3. Rosberg — +0.369
4. Raikkonen — +0.542
5. Bottas — +0.794
6. Massa — +0.872
7. Maldonado— +1.708
8. Ricciardo — +1.736
9. Hulkenberg — +1.822
10. Nasr — +1.830