Red Bull’s Mark Webber set the pace in the final practice session in Japan on Saturday morning as technical issues limited his team mate Sebastian Vettel to just eight laps of Suzuka.
The Australian’s final response to Romain Grosjean’s medium-tyre run of 1m 32.707s, which temporarily put the Frenchman at the top of the times, was 1m 32.053s. Nico Rosberg slipped his Mercedes ahead of the Lotus with 1m 32.355s towards the finish, but right at the end Lewis Hamilton usurped his team mate with 1m 32.187s to go second, 0.134s behind Webber.
The Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa looked stronger than they have all weekend, as the Spaniard finally pipped his Brazilian team mate with late runs of 1m 32.800s and 1m 32.815s respectively to take fifth and sixth places. Jenson Button was seventh in an improved McLaren on 1m 32.869s and Kimi Raikkonen, in the other Lotus, was eighth on 1m 32.946s having not done a final run.
| Pos. | Drivers | Teams | Time | Laps |
| 01. |  Mark Webber |
Red Bull Racing | 1:32.053 | 17 |
| 02. |  Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:32.187 | 18 |
| 03. |  Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:32.355 | 18 |
| 04. |  Romain Grosjean |
Lotus F1 | 1:32.707 | 26 |
| 05. |  Fernando Alonso |
Scuderia Ferrari | 1:32.800 | 14 |
| 06. |  Felipe Massa |
Ferrari | 1:32.815 | 14 |
| 07. | Jenson Button |
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:32.869 | 17 |
| 08. |  Kimi Raikkonen |
Lotus F1 | 1:32.946 | 25 |
| 09. | Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull Racing | 1:33.036 | 8 |
| 10. | Nico Hulkenberg |
Sauber F1 | 1:33.076 | 12 |
| 11. |  Sergio Perez |
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:33.158 | 15 |
| 12. | Jean-Eric Vergne |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:33.260 | 15 |
| 13. | Daniel Ricciardo |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:33.490 | 16 |
| 14. |  Pastor Maldonado |
Williams F1 | 1:33.638 | 17 |
| 15. | Paul di Resta |
Sahara Force India | 1:33.660 | 19 |
| 16. | Esteban Gutiérrez |
Sauber F1 | 1:33.732 | 15 |
| 17. | Valtteri Bottas |
Williams F1 | 1:33.955 | 18 |
| 18. | Adrian Sutil |
Sahara Force India | 1:34.773 | 8 |
| 19. |  Giedo van der Garde |
Caterham F1 Team | 1:35.473 | 20 |
| 20. | Charles Pic |
Caterham F1 Team | 1:35.518 | 18 |
| 21. | Max Chilton |
Marussia F1 Team | 1:35.844 | 16 |
| 22. | Jules Bianchi |
Marussia F1 Team | 1:39.378 | 20 |
