Montreal Practice 3: Vettel only just faster than Alonso
9 June, 2012
Sebastian Vettel topped the timing screens at the end of the final free practice session of the Canadian GP weekend
Jun.9 (Apex) If the final free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend is any indication, then we can expect it to be very, very close at the sharp end of proceedings, as Sebastian Vettel topped the timing screens after 60 minutes, but was a mere 0.006 seconds faster than Fernando Alonso.
After spending most of Friday there or thereabouts, world champion Sebastian Vettel came good in the final free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the Ile de Notre Dame in Montreal,
The world champion, who last year fluffed his lines on the final lap of the race at the same venue, looked potent as he stormed around the man-made island in 1 minute 14.442 seconds.
Alonso, a hair’s width adrift, was also in inspired form – the Ferrari F2012 clearly benefiting from the latest edition of upgrades and tweaks. Ominously for his rivals he sat out the final minutes of the session.
A quarter second down on the pace setting pair was Lewis Hamilton, who was untouchable on Friday, and is gunning for his third win in Montreal.
Monaco winner Mark Webber, was fourth fastest in the Red Bull RB8, 0,012 off Hamilton’s best and very much in contention.
After a subdued first day, Spanish GP winner Pastor Maldonado was again the cat amongst the pigeons, with the fifth best time.
He was followed by Ferraris’ Felipe Massa who ended the session sixth fastest and once again (as in Monaco) not way off his team mate’s pace.
Seven time Montreal winner Michael Schumacher was seventh on the timing screens, ahead of the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who were eighth and ninth respectively.
Nico Hulkenberg was the faster of the Force India pair in tenth, with Paul Di Resta 11th.
Incredibly, half a second separated the top eight times and the top 15 covered by a tad over one second. Formula One has never been closer!
Jenson Button’s weekend got no better as he languished down in 15th, clearly the massive amount of time lost on the opening day is proving costly for last year’s winner.
Nico Rosberg failed to set a time after his Mercedes stopped out on the track with an apparent clutch problem, on his out lap.
Also missing out on valuable track time was Montreal debutant Jean-Eric Vergne who lost control of his Toro Rosso going into Turn 1 and ended his session on the spot.
Subbed by AJN.
Montreal Free Practice 3 – Saturday, 9 June 2012
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:14.442 | 22 | |
| 2 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:14.448 | 0.006 | 17 |
| 3 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:14.712 | 0.270 | 19 |
| 4 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:14.724 | 0.282 | 21 |
| 5 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:14.755 | 0.313 | 22 |
| 6 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:14.767 | 0.325 | 21 |
| 7 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:14.796 | 0.354 | 19 |
| 8 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:14.873 | 0.431 | 20 |
| 9 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:14.977 | 0.535 | 21 |
| 10 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:14.992 | 0.550 | 22 |
| 11 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:15.067 | 0.625 | 19 |
| 12 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:15.112 | 0.670 | 21 |
| 13 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:15.126 | 0.684 | 24 |
| 14 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:15.237 | 0.795 | 22 |
| 15 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.327 | 0.885 | 22 |
| 16 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:15.498 | 1.056 | 19 |
| 17 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:16.268 | 1.826 | 24 |
| 18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:16.545 | 2.103 | 20 |
| 19 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:17.705 | 3.263 | 21 |
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:17.974 | 3.532 | 23 |
| 21 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:18.189 | 3.747 | 21 |
| 22 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:18.684 | 4.242 | 23 |
| 23 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | No time | 3 | |
| 24 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | No time | 1 |
Related posts:
- Montreal Practice 2: Hamilton owns day one with Ferrari duo in the hunt
- Montreal Practice 1: Hamilton shows strong early form
- Monaco Practice 2: Button ends day on top in rain affected session
- Monaco Practice 1: Brimming with confidence, Alonso strikes first
- Barcelona Practice 3: Vettel peaking at the right time
Lookout for Alonso. . .
Got to hand it to the Prancing Horse squad, Looks like they finally have what they have been searching for a couple years now. Massa just missed a top five start, Good on him after a rough patch. I still say he loses his seat at the end of the year but least now he’s betting his chances of landing somewhere decent. One mans opine.