Final practice abandoned due to fog

Final practice for the Japanese Grand Prix had to be abandoned due to poor weather conditions at Fuji.

The session was initially delayed by 15 minutes due to low cloud that would have prevented the medical helicopter from flying in the event of an accident.

The start was then postponed by a further quarter of an hour as the cloud failed to lift.

The field was finally allowed out onto the wet track with 30 minutes remaining, but the rain worsened immediately and with visibility declining again, the red flag was shown after just four minutes.

After announcing a further series of five minute delays, race control eventually bowed to the inevitable at 11:53 local time and decided not to attempt to restart the session.

Only three drivers managed flying laps in the few minutes of running that took place. Williams' Alex Wurz was fastest on a 1:32.746, two seconds clear of teammate Nico Rosberg. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was third, 3.4 seconds behind Wurz.

All the other drivers bar Kimi Raikkonen managed at least an installation or out-lap before practice was finally called off.