Sebastian Vettel set a new record lap time for the Interlagos circuit as he head Lewis Hamilton in the final practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver set a best time of 1’07.948, over half a second faster than team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the pair separated by the two Mercedes driver. Vettel beat the previous record, set by Valtteri Bottas in qualifying last year, by almost four-tenths of a second.
Hamilton recovered from an early setback to record the second-fastest time, two-tenths of a second behind Vettel. He was confined to the garage early in the session with smoke coming from the back of his Mercedes, which was traced to a faulty fuel breather pipe.
The Red Bull pair were relegated to fifth and sixth places as expected, Max Verstappen two-tenths of a second off Raikkonen. The Haas pair were next, continuing their run at the front of the midfield pack this weekend.
Having switched to the current spec-three Honda power unit overnight, Pierre Gasly moved his Toro Rosso up to ninth place, though he was infuriated at being held up by Esteban Ocon at the end of the session. However team mate Brendon Hartley could only manage 16th, over half a second behind.
Charles Leclerc completed the top 10 for Sauber. For the first time this weekend Renault looked somewhere near competitive, Nico Hulkenberg missing out on a place in the top 10 by just 13 thousandths of a second.
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