Fernando Alonso continued his and Ferrari’s strong form to top the timesheets during a mostly dry third practice session during the 2012 German GP weekend.
Alonso was just 0.077 clear of 2nd-placed Lewis Hamilton, but the Briton – who was running a heavily upgraded MP4-27 – posted his lap on mediums while Alonso was on softs.
Sauber driver Sergio Perez showed impressive pace as he clocked the 3rd fastest time, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus and the two Red Bulls of British GP winner Mark Webber and world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Massa, Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna completed the top 10 in a session that saw rain drops nearing the end.
Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg will both be dropping 5 places in the race due to a gearbox change.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m16.014s 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m16.091s + 0.077 3. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.202s + 0.188 4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m16.238s + 0.224 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m16.447s + 0.433 6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m16.475s + 0.461 7. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m16.664s + 0.650 8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m16.771s + 0.757 9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.801s + 0.793 10. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m16.930s + 0.916 11. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m16.962s + 0.948 12. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m17.033s + 1.019 13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m17.148s + 1.134 14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.238s + 1.224 15. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m17.266s + 1.252 16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.419s + 1.405 17. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m17.491s + 1.477 18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m18.366s + 2.352 19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m18.818s + 2.804 20. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m19.778s + 3.764 21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m20.235s + 4.221 22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m20.318s + 4.304 23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m20.741s + 4.727 24. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m20.914s + 4.900