Lewis Hamilton suffered a late crash during Saturday morning's final practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix, while Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg set the pace going into the race.

Championship leader Hamilton misjudged his entry to Turn 1 and mounted the kerb, with his car locking up and sliding into the barriers just moments after Rosberg clocked the fastest time of the weekend by some distance with a 1:33.228.

Fernando Alonso, still with Ferrari for the moment, was third to pass under the chequered flag, with Williams duo Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas not far behind.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo managed to place sixth after recovering from a crash out of FP2, a couple of tenths of a second clear of McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen, whose late showing saw him shoot up the order.

Sebastian Vettel finished up in 15th spot, with Red Bull confirming this morning that the German will leave the team at the end of the current season.

Full practice standings:

1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
4. Felipe Massa (Williams)
5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
6. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
7. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)
8. Jean-Eric Vergne (Force India)
9. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull)
10. Jenson Button (McLaren)
11. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
12. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
13. Sergio Perez (Force India)
14. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
15. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
16. Romain Grosjean (Lotus Renault)
17. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus Renault)
18. Adrian Sutil (Sauber)
19. Marcus Ericsson (Caterham)
20. Max Chilton (Marussia)
21. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)
22. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham)