Sebastian Vettel ended Lewis Hamilton’s domination of practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday when he topped the times ahead of Dutch teenager Max Verstappen.
The four-time champion German was fastest, with his Ferrari teammate Finn Kimi Raikkonen clocking the third best time after Verstappen to leave defending champion Hamilton down in fourth, with Mercedes-GP teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg fifth.
Hamilton was almost three-tenths down on the pace set by Vettel who lapped in one minute and 40.775 seconds.
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Rosberg was very close behind Hamilton, the pair separated by just one-tenth of a second in a session-ending scenario that suggested Mercedes may not have it all their own way in qualifying later on Saturday.
Championship leader Rosberg has to finish on the podium to clinch his first drivers’ title while Hamilton must win and hope that his teammate finishes outside the top three to retain his title.
But on the evidence of Saturday’s final free practice session a much more competitive than usual fight for pole position is in prospect.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was sixth in the second Red Bull Racing ahead of Mexican Sergio Perez and his Force India teammate German Nico Hulkenberg.
Finn Valtteri Bottas was ninth for Williams ahead of Mexican Esteban Guttierez of Sauber.
Rosberg leads Hamilton by 12 points with just Sunday’s race remaining this season.
All of the drivers were running on ultra-soft tyres on a hot and dry day at the Yas Marina circuit.
There were few incidents, but both Mercedes men complained about minor problems with their brake systems.
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* Agence France-Presse
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