Malaysian Grand Prix – Kimi Raikkonen finished ahead of Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came to blows with Renault’s Jolyon Palmer.
Raikkonen lead a hotly contested free practice three session which saw the top four separated by less than half a second.
The Finn registered a 1:31.880 with team-mate Vettel setting a lap 0.162 of a second off the pace. Daniel Ricciardo showed Red Bull’s competitiveness this weekend by finishing just two tenths shy of Raikkonen’s time.
Vettel’s session was ended prematurely after he received the instruction from the team to drive back to the pits slowly. The team confirmed that, as a precaution, Vettel’s car will have a complete change of power unit before qualifying.
Valtteri Bottas was the lead Mercedes with a 1:32.329, with team-mate Hamilton a further two tenths back.
Max Verstappen was unable to set a final lap after making contact with Renault’s Jolyon Palmer.
With Palmer on a flying lap, he attempted to pass the Dutchman (who was on an out lap) on the inside of the final corner.
However, when Palmer locked up he had minimal room for error and collided with the back-end of the Red Bull car, damaging his front wing.
Force India’s Sergio Perez finished ‘best of the rest’ in seventh place, narrowly edging ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa, team-mate Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne.
Several drivers made mistakes at the final corner, including rookie Pierre Gasly and Hamilton, whilst eleventh-placed Fernando Alonso spun 180 degrees early on in the session.
Jolyon Palmer had an off-track excursion at the final corner, whilst Romain Grosjean spun his Haas car at turn fourteen.
Grosjean’s team-mate, Kevin Magunssen, was forced back to the pits part-way through the session with an engine problem.
To view the full results of the session, click here.
