» Malaysian GP: Rosberg on top in final practice

Nico Rosberg has posted the quickest lap-time in the final practice session ahead of this afternoon’s all-important qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The German’s best lap was an impressive four-tenths faster than second-placed Sebastian Vettel, no doubt giving the Mercedes team plenty of confidence that is will be a dark horse later today.

Mark Webber finished up third-fastest in the sister Red Bull, while Lotus runners Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean ensured that four Renault runners finished in the top-five places on the timesheets.

The top ten places were completed by Jenson Button, a rapid Pastor Maldonado, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton (despite a spin) and Kamui Kobayashi – the fastest nine drivers were covered by less than nine-tenths of a second.

Bruno Senna cemented Williams’ solid form by going 11th-quickest, with Sergio Pérez not far behind in his Sauber. The Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne were sandwiched by Nico Hülkenberg and Paul di Resta on the timesheets.

Worryingly, Felipe Massa finished up a very poor 18th overall, just half a second faster than Vitaly Petrov in the Caterham, who again outpaced team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.

The same surprise result met Charles Pic in the Marussia, with the French rookie lapping the Sepang circuit quicker than team-mate Timo Glock, while the two HRTs brought up the rear, but again inside the theoretical 107% qualifying cut-off.

2012 Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG F1 W03	1:36.877		16
2.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault RB8	1:37.320	+ 0.443	15
3.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault RB8	1:37.338	+ 0.461	12
4.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Renault E20	1:37.356	+ 0.479	13
5.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Renault E20	1:37.382	+ 0.505	13
6.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-27	1:37.404	+ 0.527	12
7.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault FW34	1:37.445	+ 0.578	13
8.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes AMG F1 W03	1:37.663	+ 0.786	15
9.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-27	1:37.776	+ 0.899	8
10.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C31	1:37.977	+ 1.100	17
11.	Bruno Senna	Williams Renault FW34	1:38.091	+ 1.214	20
12.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C31	1:38.178	+ 1.301	15
13.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F2012	1:38.246	+ 1.369	17
14.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes VJM05	1:38.285	+ 1.408	16
15.	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7	1:38.423	+ 1.546	13
16.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7	1:38.640	+ 1.763	11
17.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM05	1:38.794	+ 1.917	18
18.	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari F2012	1:39.209	+ 2.332	16
19.	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham Renault CT01	1:39.704	+ 2.827	15
20.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham Renault CT01	1:40.189	+ 3.312	14
21.	Charles Pic	Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01	1:41.901	+ 5.024	14
22.	Timo Glock	Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01	1:42.007	+ 5.130	14
23.	Pedro de la Rosa	HRTF1 Cosworth F112	1:42.464	+ 5.587	14
24.	Narain Karthikeyan	HRTF1 Cosworth F112	1:43.378	+ 6.501	17