2012 Brazilian Grand Prix FP3: Button keeps McLaren on top

Jenson Button has kept McLaren in the lead after setting the fastest time during the final practice session for the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Button’s lap came near the end of the session, to put himself just 0.057 clear of the rest.

Sebastian Vettel, who’s under a lot of pressure this weekend, went second quickest for Red Bull ahead of teammate Mark Webber and McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton.

Romain Grosjean managed fifth for Lotus, followed by the Force India pair Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg who are looking very strong on the Brazilian track so far.

Pastor Maldonado put his Williams in ninth, between the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and teammate Felipe Massa, with the red team’s pace remaining a big unknown.

 

 
Pos  Driver                Team                  Time 
 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m13.188s            
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m13.245s  + 0.057   
 3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m13.385s  + 0.197   
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m13.389s  + 0.201   
 5.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m13.420s  + 0.232   
 6.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m13.486s  + 0.298   
 7.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m13.602s  + 0.414   
 8.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m13.691s  + 0.503   
 9.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m13.700s  + 0.512   
10.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m13.712s  + 0.524   
11.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m13.948s  + 0.760   
12.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m14.126s  + 0.938   
13.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m14.190s  + 1.002   
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m14.192s  + 1.004   
15.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m14.347s  + 1.159   
16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m14.687s  + 1.499   
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m14.972s  + 1.784   
18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m15.159s  + 1.971   
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m15.707s  + 2.519   
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m15.763s  + 2.575   
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m16.059s  + 2.871  
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m16.198s  + 3.010  
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m16.793s  + 3.605   
24.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         no time