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Lewis Hamilton set an imposing pace on the Japanese Grand Prix.
The world championship leader was 0.446 seconds quicker than team-mate Valtteri Bottas – and 0.682secs quicker than Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo in third place.
Hamilton was using softer tyres than Bottoms – but earlier in the session had just been 0.183secs slower than the Finn using tyres one step harder.
Hamilton also narrowly avoided a huge crash with Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly.
The Frenchman was going slow on the racing line at the chicane and Hamilton had to take action and run into the escape road as he closed in at a frightening speed.
The two drivers have been summed up to the point of view of the incident, which explains them as Gasly potentially "driving unnecessarily slowly and impeding" Hamilton.
There was also a rare mistake from McLaren 's Fernando Alonso, who went off to a high speed on the entry to the field.
Alonso speared off the gravel trap and spun, but was able to rejoin the track.
Vettel was a huge 0.994secs slower than Hamilton despite using the fastest super-soft tyres for his quickest lapse for much of the session.
Hamilton's fastest time was set on the soft tire, while Bottoms was using the medium when he went second fastest and Ricciardo the super-soft for his time.
Watch out on the track at the demanding section of the road, the Mercedes and the Red Bull are particularly concerned about the high speed of driving.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest, ahead of Vettel and the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
And there was an accomplished performance from Sauber's Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque, who is being promoted to Suzuka before, Marcus Ericsson, Marcus Ericsson, Marcus Ericsson the session after 40 minutes.
Leclerc ended the session ninth, behind Force India 's Esteban Ocon and Haas driver Romain Grosjean, and 0.144secs quicker than Ericsson.
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