2012 Indian Grand Prix FP3: Vettel stays on top

Sebastian Vettel continued his and Red Bull’s perfect start to the Indian Grand Prix by topping the times for the third time during the final free practice session this morning.

Vettel lapped the Buddh International Circuit in 1m25.842s to take to the top spot ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button who was 0.192s behind, while teammate Mark Webber was a further tenth adrift in third.

Lewis Hamilton went fourth quickest, followed by Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, Williams’ Bruno Senna and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso; the Spaniard was sixth tenths down on his championship rival.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher and the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10; the latter heard complaining of a lack in grip as with many other drivers.

 


Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time Gap 
 1.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m25.842s            
 2.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m26.034s  + 0.192s  
 3.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m26.108s  + 0.266s  
 4.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m26.151s  + 0.309s  
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m26.209s  + 0.367s  
 6.  Bruno Senna         Williams-Renault      1m26.214s  + 0.372s  
 7.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m26.521s  + 0.679s  
 8.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m26.531s  + 0.689s  
 9.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m26.652s  + 0.810s  
10.  Romain Grosjean     Lotus-Renault         1m26.664s  + 0.822s 
11.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m26.691s  + 0.849s  
12.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m27.140s  + 1.298s 
13.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m27.162s  + 1.320s  
14.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m27.193s  + 1.351s  
15.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m27.229s  + 1.387s 
16.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.374s  + 1.532s 
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.711s  + 1.869s 
18.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m27.983s  + 2.141s 
19.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m29.035s  + 3.193s 
20.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m29.237s  + 3.395s 
21.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m29.617s  + 3.775s 
22.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m30.298s  + 4.456s 
23.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m30.824s  + 4.982s 
24.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m30.873s  + 5.031s