Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso returned to the head of the field during Saturday evening’s final practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.
Fourth place went to Jean-Eric Vergne, who is literally racing for his F1 career having been dropped by Toro Rosso for 2015, while Sebastian Vettel was fifth quickest having put in a late lap.
Surprisingly Lewis Hamilton could only manage the sixth best time having had a few issues.
Putting in the laps earlier on the soft tyres, he had a big moment at Turn 5 when he had a half spin after hitting a kerb. He was lucky to avoid the barriers.
The Brit told his team that his engine briefly stalled and that he used the clutch to restart it. A few laps later he reported that the “driveability is very bad at the moment.”
Hamilton’s best on the supersofts was 0.439s off the pace.