Nico Rosberg was fastest in final
practice at the Japanese Grand Prix on
Saturday as Lewis Hamilton crashed
out.
The Silver Arrows had dominated
even more than usual during Friday
practice and again ended up one-two,
pointing towards the likelihood of
another front-row lock-out in
qualifying.
However, with attention generally
cast elsewhere during the hour - Red
Bull announced the news that
Sebastian Vettel is leaving them at
the end of the season shortly before
the session started - all eyes were
back on track during the closing
minutes when Hamilton left the track
at Turn 1.
The current title leader appeared to
outbrake himself entering the corner,
with the speed of the number 44
Mercedes taking it over the run-off
and into the gravel.
It ended up in the tyre wall and
although the impact was not heavy, it
ensured a busy couple of hours for
Mercedes' mechanics ahead of
qualifying.
With Rosberg ending up 0.982s faster
than Hamilton, Fernando Alonso was
third fastest for Ferrari ahead of
Williams pair Felipe Massa and Valtteri
Bottas.
The top ten was completed by Daniel
Ricciardo (Red Bull), Kevin Magnussen
(McLaren), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro
Rosso), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and
Jenson Button (McLaren).
World Champion Vettel, meanwhile,
wound up 15th fastest._-____in other news Red Bull have announced that World
Champion Sebastian Vettel is leaving
at the end of the current season, with
team boss Christian Horner saying
that he's joining Ferrari in 2015.