What just happened at the end of practice to Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen?

Andrew Benson shall explain...

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton look extremely strong. The only thing I will say is in Singapore last time out we were saying it is going to be Ferrari as they looked so strong but Hamilton blew the competition out of the water so let's wait and see, but Mercedes certainly look like they have the advantage.

Image source, Getty Images

1. Hamilton
2. Bottas
3. Vettel
4. Raikkonen
5. Verstappen
6. Ricciardo
7. Leclerc
8. Ocon
9. Magnussen
10. Perez
11. Sainz
12. Gasly
13. Grosjean
14. Hulkenberg
15. Ericsson
16. Hartley
17. Sirotkin
18. Stroll
19. Vandoorne
20. Alonso

Raikkonen's engineer: "Stop the car Kimi! Stop the car!"

What is going on at Ferrari?

Practice is over, but Vettel stopped and got out of his car on the track...

I hope there are some Weetabix in the Ferrari garage - he is not happy.

Kayleigh: Is Seb alright today? Has he missed his weetabix?

Niall Melarkey: When talking about track limits, do you think Max Verstappen was exceeding track limits in the USA last year? #bbcf1, external

Image source, Getty Images

A close one for Ricciardo and Vettel - as Vettel comes flat out from the pits and nearly takes out Daniel Ricciardo who was too far over to the right of the track.

Just one minute of practice remaining. It looks like we've got to grips with the cars now... but Vettel is still in third, behind Hamilton and Bottas. Is he planning something big for qualifying?

Amit Mandalia: if the Mercedes qualify ahead of the Ferrari’s I can’t see them losing the race because I can’t see Ferrari being able to use strategy to get ahead #bbcf1, external

Seigo Robinson: A cheeky F1 style bending of rules: Fangio 3 teams - Maserati (53-54), Maserati (57-58), then Kurtis Kraft for the '58 Indy 500 which was part of the season, back to Maserati 58. #bbcf1, external

George Mann: Alonso drove for Renault and McLaren twice #bbcf1, external

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

Six tenths is a huge margin at the moment. Raikkonen and Vettel look evenly matched but Mercedes, and Hamilton in particular, look lightning fast. Ferrari are missing a lot at the moment.

Image source, Getty Images

Hamilton and Bottas are still top - Hamilton with a 1:33.067, and Bottas two tenths behind. Followed by Raikkonen and Vettel.

It looks like Bottas has picked up some speed recently, his competitiveness seemed to have vanished since before the summer break. In Baku, the fourth race of the year, he could taste the victory until that devastating puncture...

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

How much trouble were Ferrari really in on Friday? Well, the headline lap times tell part of the story - Sebastian Vettel was 0.543 seconds slower than Lewis Hamilton. But on race pace it did not get any better. Vettel did only one lap on the hyper-soft tyre, but it was 0.451secs slower than the first lap of Hamilton's run.

And while Vettel was complaining about “going through his tyres a bit harder and quicker than the rest”, Hamilton did a 12-lap run on his hypers. Unsurprisingly, he was quickest. On the ultra-softs, it was a similar story. Vettel started with a quicker lap than Hamilton did but his pace soon dropped away. Hamilton’s run was shorter, but comparing with Vettel’s only counting up to the number of laps Hamilton did, the Mercedes was still quicker by nearly 0.4secs on average.

Image source, AFP

Vettel is pushing hard... and has run out wide at turn 8, ruining that lap for him.

Maybe Vettel needs some of Hamilton's qualifying skills from Singapore to do something extra special.

If you'd like to re-live those moments, Mike Whalley and I dug through the BBC archives, which can be found here.

Daniel Griffiths: Nick Heidfeld drove for Sauber 3 times?

Ljostro: Pierluigi Martini had two stints with Minardi in F1 and one in F2 - so technically had 3 spells with the team

Nick Holland: Stirling Moss used to change teams quite frequently... Mansell & Williams.. #BBCF1

Liam: Kimi to Sauber twice & Kimi to Ferrari twice! #BBCF1

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

"Kimi Raikkonen three times at Ferrari... it's not over until it's over."

Image source, Getty Images

All 20 drivers have set a time in our final practice session.

We have 23 minutes remaining.

1. Hamilton
2. Bottas
3. Vettel
4. Raikkonen
5. Perez

Amit Mandalia: I’m finding it so frustrating that all these drivers are going so wide off track without any repercussions #bbcf1, external

Esteban Ocon: "Yo, he was on the line totally"

Ocon engineer: "Yes, we were watching that."

And now Hamilton has overtaken his teammate to take the top spot.

Hamilton's engineer: "Watch your line through turn 7, they won't like that, turn 8 is the area for biggest improvement."

"They"? Charlie Whiting et al, since Hamilton cut the corner and didn't exactly stay on track...

Bottas and Hamilton are leading. In that order...

3. Vettel

4. Raikkonen

5. Ricciardo

6. Leclerc

7. Ocon

8. Gasly

9. Ericsson

10. Sainz

Image source, Getty Images

Jacqui Baker-Stubbs: "Someone needs to get hold of @danielricciardo and ask him what he thinks of today’s win by the @WestCoastEagles!! #bbcf1, external#AFL, external#AussieFootball, external"

Whatever happens in qualifying, it looks like it's been emotional day for Daniel Ricciardo already.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images