Practice 3: Alonso quickest before torrential downpour
21 July, 2012
Fernando Alonso was fastest at the end of FP3 in Germany
Jul.21 (Apex) With handful of minutes left in the final free practice session of the German Grand Prix weekend, the heavens opened up and torrential rain fell over Hockenheim after a dry 60 minutes session which saw Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso top the timing sheets.
Alonso’s best time came around the 40 minute mark, when he bolted on a set of the yellow band Pirelli soft tyres on the Ferrari F2012 – featuring a newly tweaked front wing – and promptly went faster than any one has been all weekend with his time of 1 minute 16.014 seconds. Team mate Felipe Massa was eighth fastest.
Next up was Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, interestingly the Briton having set his time on a set of the harder silver band Pirelli PZero tyres which appear better suited to the MP4-27 than the softer option. Team mate Jenson Button did very few laps and appears to be having a torrid time with the set-up on his car, and despite notching up 25 laps ended the session slowest of all. Something is amiss in the Button camp…
Continuing to show good pace in the Sauber was Sergio Perez who ended the session third fastest, a half second up on teammate Kamui Kobayashi who ended the session ninth.
The Red Bull duo finally showed their hand (or at least part of it) with Mark Webber fractionally faster than teammate Sebastian Vettel, fifth and sixth respectively on the timing sheets.
Both Williams drivers ended the session in the top ten with Pastor Maldonado seventh fastest and Bruno Senna tenth.
Heavy clouds lingered on the horizon as FP3 began at 11:00 am local, with some teams predicting a rain free session, others expecting rain mid-way through the hour, but in the end it fell right at the very end of the session.
If the deluge that was witnessed at the very end of the morning practice is anything to go by, then for sure qualifying will be rain affected. Watch this space…
Subbed by AJN.
German Grand Prix Free Practice 3 – Saturday, 21 July 2012
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:16.014 | 14 | |
| 2 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:16.091 | 0.077 | 21 |
| 3 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:16.202 | 0.188 | 21 |
| 4 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:16.238 | 0.224 | 27 |
| 5 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:16.447 | 0.433 | 19 |
| 6 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:16.475 | 0.461 | 18 |
| 7 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:16.664 | 0.650 | 18 |
| 8 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:16.771 | 0.757 | 15 |
| 9 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:16.807 | 0.793 | 25 |
| 10 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:16.930 | 0.916 | 23 |
| 11 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:16.962 | 0.948 | 26 |
| 12 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:17.033 | 1.019 | 26 |
| 13 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:17.148 | 1.134 | 24 |
| 14 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:17.238 | 1.224 | 25 |
| 15 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:17.266 | 1.252 | 22 |
| 16 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:17.419 | 1.405 | 23 |
| 17 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:17.491 | 1.477 | 26 |
| 18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:18.366 | 2.352 | 21 |
| 19 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:18.818 | 2.804 | 23 |
| 20 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:19.778 | 3.764 | 22 |
| 21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:20.235 | 4.221 | 22 |
| 22 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:20.318 | 4.304 | 9 |
| 23 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:20.741 | 4.727 | 22 |
| 24 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:20.914 | 4.900 | 25 |
Related posts:
- Practice 3: Alonso fastest as Silverstone circuit finally dries up
- Montreal Practice 3: Vettel only just faster than Alonso
- Monaco Practice 1: Brimming with confidence, Alonso strikes first
- Sepang Practice 3: Rosberg quickest sets scene for hot qualifying
- Melbourne Practice 1: Button quickest from Hamilton
