2014 Malaysian Grand Prix Saturday - Qualifying

BEN ANDERSON: "The sensor problems that blighted McLaren's final practice session have been fixed, so Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen should be good to go for qualifying."

BEN ANDERSON: "Depending on how long this lasts it could really throw a spanner in the works for qualifying preparations. There's been no wet running so far here. But the circuit dries quickly in this heat, so if the storm is short and sweet it may not matter."

So on raw pace, you'd have to look at Mercedes for pole, but as the AUTOSPORT form guide suggested, the race might be closer, and needless to say there's a rain possibiliy too...

You can make your predictions for the result in the Castrol EDGE Grand Prix Predictor until just before qualifying, so not long to go, and still prizes to be won at every race.

The third practice session was a reasonably positive one for Ferrari. Here's what Fernando Alonso had to say earlier about the team's chances of taking the fight to Mercedes this year:

"I think that we have more potential than we showed in Australia first of all, and we need to put everything in place and have a better weekend.

"We also understand that we need to improve and it’s still not enough especially with Mercedes cars being very strong, but we have the potential, the team has the facilities, has the talent to do a very good job and we are strong, we should be strong.

"We will do better, I’m pretty sure we know that it’s not a great start, it seems like the last couple of years, but there is different rules it’s a different rate of development this year and still the hope is perfectly there."

Looking at milage from that session, Alonso, Bottas and Maldonado all completed 20 laps. At the other end of the scale were the McLarens (nine laps together) and Kobayashi, who completed just seven laps.

BEN ANDERSON: "Clear gaps emerged between the cars in FP3, with Mercedes well ahead of the rest. Raikkonen and Hulkenberg stand out as having produced laps significantly faster than their respective team-mates Alonso and Perez among the frontrunners."

The session was much more positive for Red Bull, Ferrari and Force India, but Mercedes sitting pretty at the top so far.

Disaster of a session for McLaren. Just nine laps between the two drivers, hampered with engine and grip issues. Team faces a race to get things sorted for qualifying.

EDD STRAW: "Verdict from that session is that, yes, as suspected Mercedes did have something in reserve on pure pace yesterday. Not a great surprise."

Here's how the session shook out:

1 Rosberg
2 Hamilton
3 Raikkonen
4 Vettel
5 Hulkenberg
6 Ricciardo
7 Alonso
8 Massa
9 Bottas
10 Perez
11 Kvyat
12 Vergne
13 Sutil
14 Gutierrez
15 Grosjean
16 Maldonado
17 Chilton
18 Bianchi
19 Ericsson
20 Kobayashi
21 Button
22 Magnussen

"The rear-end is a disaster" says Grosjean.

Mercedes is on course to end the session a second clear.

Chilton currently heads the tail-end battle and is within 0.4s of Maldonado. Both Caterhams are now parked in the garage with technical issues.

EDD STRAW is still watching from Turns 5/6:

"The Lotus of Maldonado looked like a massive handful on his first lap on mediums. He couldn't hold it tight enough at the exit of 5, then had a long period of instability as he tried to drag it back for the right-hander, with the rear just not playing ball. The lack of time spent on set-ups with all of the trouble-shooting Lotus has been doing is obvious.

"It's interesting to see those who are still on the long runs on the hard are struggling more and more. Williams seems to enjoy a reasonably consistent level of rear grip, which is encouraging for the team.

"Comparing the two Mercedes, Rosberg was tidier but Hamilton looked quicker through 5 and 6 on mediums. I would assume Hamilton would be quicker in S2 based on that.

"McLaren generally looks quite rear limited in the quick stuff. They need more grip as right now the drivers are tip-toeing around.

"Red Bull looks comfortably the strongest through 5/6. They can hold a tight line in the transition."

Difference between Vettel in fourth and Ricciardo in sixth is three tenths of a second.

Vettel pops up to fourth, behind only the Mercedes and Raikkonen.

Vergne pops into the top 10, in 10th, for Toro Rosso, but he's then beaten by team-mate Kvyat.

Massa goes seventh on his flyer.

Bottas moves up to eighth.

Williams has fallen to 11th and 14th but they're on mediums now.

Ricciardo's medium tyre run puts him fifth behind the Mercedes, Raikkonen and Hulkenberg.

Grosjean reaches the giddy heights of 13th. Spot what's missing from the session? That's right, a broken Lotus. All smooth so far there.

Sutil does his medium tyre run and goes seventh for Sauber.

Latest to jump upwards on mediums is Hulkenberg, who leaps to fourth for Force India.

Ricciardo gets an update from pit-wall: "Other cars are finding 1.5 seconds on options, to give you an idea on grip".

But the Red Bulls are now on the mediums, so expect them to move up.

Gutierrez improves again and is now sixth, ahead of the Red Bulls.

Perez jumps to fifth for Force India.

More from BEN ANDERSON, who is track-side:

"The Red Bull looks super strong through Turns 5 and 6. Vettel looks nailed to the road as he transitions left to right on-throttle. He can stay tight through the left to aid turn-in on the right.

"Raikkonen looks more controlled though 5 and 6 than Alonso, who seems to be fighting the Ferrari on the mediums.

"The overweight Sauber looks very lazy through this sequence."

Gutierrez puts the Sauber ninth. The team has been struggling during this weekend so he may well go backwards as others switch to mediums in the coming minutes.

So with a quarter of an hour left, it's Mercedes one-two, Ferrari three-four, Red Bull five-six... and McLaren 21st-22nd with issues keeping its men in the pits.

Hamilton falls short on the lap overall, he's second on a 1m39.240s, 0.232s off Rosberg.

But Hamilton recovers in sector two.

Hamilton is a tenth down on Rosberg at the first split on his medium-tyre run.