Canadian GP – Free Practice 3: Vettel Raises His Game

The weather isn’t stable in Montreal, the sky is overcast and humidity is rising, but still no rain as the third free practice session begins.

The Red Bull engineers are busy around Mark Webber’s car: an issue has been detected with the KERS. A usual occurrence for the Australian who will not participate in this session.

On his side, Fernando Alonso, after an installation lap, calmly sat at the back of his garage.

Seven minutes since the start of this session and still no time to report as Nico Rosberg sets off on a timed lap. The German driver marks a first lap in 1:16.977, under the eyes of his illustrious teammate, comfortably in the pits. Nico quickly improves his time to 1:15.934.

Alonso continues to stroll through the pits, walking up the pitlane casually, while Rosberg sets the fastest time of the weekend with 1:15.034. Schumacher takes to the track on soft tires, but with a larger amount of fuel as he records the third fastest time in 1:21.137. Kobayashi makes an appearance: he will have his work cut out for him this Saturday morning following his mistake on Friday.

The two HRTs and the two Team Lotus cars are also on track, as is Vitaly Petrov, who provisionally ranks second with a time of 1:16.894. Kobayashi has another scare at the same spot where he hit the wall the day before but manages to recover and stay on track. Heidfeld interjects and takes the provisional second place. Very provisional, as Button posts a time of 1:15.208, 174 thousandths behind Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes. The reigning world champion, Sebastian Vettel, is on track and sets an excellent first lap in 1:15.304. Button takes the lead with a time of 1:14.942. Alonso has finished touring the pit lane and has taken to the track. There is a lot of traffic in the middle of the session, making it difficult to get a clear lap, it feels like being in Le Mans!

Nico Rosberg takes the lead with a 1:14.180, but this time only holds for a few seconds as Vettel snatches the lead with a 1:14.162. After being held up by a race-simulating Michael Schumacher, Alonso makes a small mistake at the hairpin and only takes 4th position. It’s probably just a temporary setback.

In the middle of the pack, Sebastian Buemi is on the attack and records a time of 1:16.291. On super soft tires, Rosberg retakes first place with a 1:13.919. Vettel, slightly held up by a Force India, cannot improve and posts a 1:14.054. While Alonso takes third position, Felipe Massa takes fourth, the McLarens are currently discreet even though they are expected to perform well on this circuit. Lewis Hamilton locks up his wheels and goes straight onto the grass at the chicane.

Most of the drivers are in the pits, which leaves the track clear for Pedro de la Rosa, who needs to get used to his new car. He records the provisional twelfth fastest time, placing ahead of Kamui Kobayashi. Hamilton, on his part, is aggressive and only manages the fourth fastest time of the session with a 1:14.795, eight-tenths behind Rosberg. Meanwhile, the two Force India cars are in the top 10: Vijay Mallya’s team’s cars are comfortable on the Quebec circuit. Sutil is eighth and Di Resta ninth.

Few improvements to report with only 20 minutes left in this third free practice session. Barrichello takes a detour off-track at the first chicane while Buemi continues to push hard and almost ends up in the « Welcome to Quebec » zone.

Vettel strings together laps at 1:14.0, once again proving the consistency of the duo he forms with the car designed by Adrian Newey. Schumacher sets his best time at 1:15.327.

Alonso on the attack on a track that is improving. The Spaniard is once again surprised at the hairpin and will have to try his luck again. De la Rosa also visits the grass at the first chicane while Buemi brushes the wall at the same spot. Felipe Massa takes the provisional third place and Alonso matches Nico Rosberg’s time of 1.13.919, placing him in second as the German set his time first. It’s Alguersuari’s turn to have a scare, but this time at the second chicane, without any damage for the Toro Rosso driver. Buemi, in the pits, is vigorously complaining to his team about tire pressure.

The sky is darkening but still no rain to report as Felipe Massa gets closer to the provisional best time, 37 milliseconds behind Rosberg and Alonso. The Spanish driver actually sets the best time of the session at 1:13.701 and is just a few steps away from the track record held by Rubens Barrichello. Ferrari impresses in this session. The Mercedes team announces that the performance gap between the super soft and the soft is about 1 to 1.1 seconds.

With five minutes remaining in the session, Vettel hits the track and on his second lap sets the fastest time at 1:13.381. Schumacher and Button improve, posting the sixth and fifth fastest times, respectively. The McLarens are surprisingly behind when Lewis Hamilton starts his final timed lap. Slightly hindered, he ends up sixth with a time of 1:14.169.

As the session ended, the red flag was out. It was Pedro de la Rosa who made a mistake in the first chicane, but this time it was the rear that hit the wall and the Sauber came to a stop a few meters further. The accident was less severe than those from yesterday, and De la Rosa calmly exited his cockpit. This marks the end of the third and final free practice session, dominated by Sebastian Vettel.

Results of Free Practice 3