World champion Lewis Hamilton set the pace in final practice for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton, who sealed his fourth title with two rounds to spare in Mexico last month, led the way from his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

The British driver posted a best lap of one minute and 37.627 seconds at the Yas Marina circuit to finish a third of a second clear of Bottas with the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, both half-a-second off the pace, in third and fourth respectively.

Hamilton is bidding to end his championship-winning campaign on a high and is the driver to beat in the heat of the desert having topped the time sheets on Friday and now on Saturday. The Mercedes driver needs one more win to take his tally of victories to an impressive 10 for the 20-race season.

For Vettel – the man who led the championship for 12 rounds before his charge imploded in the second half of the year – he needs to finish only eighth on Sunday to ensure he will end as runner-up to Hamilton, with Bottas 22 points adrift of the German.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth in the order ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen with Fernando Alonso seventh for McLaren. Veteran Brazilian Felipe Massa, who will start his 269th and final grand prix tomorrow ahead of his impending retirement, was 11th.