Practice 3: Vettel fastest as Red Bulls hog top
10 September, 2011
Sebastian Vettel claimed the high ground ahead of Italian GP qualifying at Monza
Sep.10 (PVM) Red Bull appear to have exorcised their low downforce bogey as they topped the timing screens in the third and final free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza with Sebastian Vettel topping the timing screens, ahead of team mate Mark Webber.
Felipe Massa showed strong pace by going third fastest in front of his big boss Luca di Montezemolo who pranced around the pitlane greeting Maranello staff, both current and former such as Ross Brawn.
Next up were the McLaren duo who are expected to take the fight to the fizzy drinks lads, but looked ominously down on pace, in the final 60 minutes practice session, to do the job. Lewis Hamilton ended fifth fastest, fractionally up on Jenson Button – although half a second down on Vettel’s best.
Nico Rosberg was quickest of the Silver Arrows setting the sixth best time, with Michael Schumacher seventh in the Mercedes GP.
Last year’s winner Fernando Alonso was down in eighth in front of the Ferrari tifosi making their annual pilgrimage to the temple of speed to watch the Scuderia in action. All indications are that they won’t be returning home after the grand prix as happy as they were last year.
Report in progress…
Saturday, 10 September – Practice 3
| Pos | No |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
Gap |
Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:23.170 | 18 | |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:23.534 | 0.364 | 19 |
| 3 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:23.668 | 0.498 | 14 |
| 4 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:23.741 | 0.571 | 17 |
| 5 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:23.787 | 0.617 | 16 |
| 6 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:23.875 | 0.705 | 22 |
| 7 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:24.114 | 0.944 | 20 |
| 8 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:24.133 | 0.963 | 14 |
| 9 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:24.543 | 1.373 | 21 |
| 10 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:24.581 | 1.411 | 22 |
| 11 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:24.853 | 1.683 | 20 |
| 12 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:24.889 | 1.719 | 19 |
| 13 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:24.948 | 1.778 | 22 |
| 14 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:25.261 | 2.091 | 21 |
| 15 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:25.319 | 2.149 | 19 |
| 16 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:25.426 | 2.256 | 19 |
| 17 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:25.439 | 2.269 | 22 |
| 18 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:25.539 | 2.369 | 19 |
| 19 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:27.328 | 4.158 | 19 |
| 20 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:27.491 | 4.321 | 21 |
| 21 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:28.186 | 5.016 | 23 |
| 22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1:28.441 | 5.271 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:28.962 | 5.792 | 17 |
| 24 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1:30.316 | 7.146 | 16 |
Related posts:
- Practice 2: Vettel a little faster than Hamilton
- Practice 1: Hamilton tops as McLaren pair fly
- Practice 2: Webber fastest in brief dry spell
- Practice 3: Vettel fastest from Alonso
- Practice 3: Vettel fastest as Red Bulls charge
