Bahrain – Free Practice 3: Rosberg does not weaken!

Sun and sand wind, that’s the menu this morning for the start of these third free practice sessions. First piece of information: Pastor Maldonado will drop 5 places on the grid after changing the gearbox of his Williams.

The drivers are calmly completing their installation laps. Ten minutes into the session, it’s Paul di Resta who sets the first time of the session at 1:41.356, quickly improved by the other Force India driver, Nico Hülkenberg, at 1:36.481. The Scot retakes the lead with an eight-tenths advantage. The Lotus cars make their move: Räikkönen and Grosjean swap the lead, with the Frenchman ultimately having the final word at 1:34.401.

Still 40 minutes before the end of FP3. The Mercedes, plagued by tire issues, make mistakes after braking at the end of the straight. Vettel, on his first flying lap, slots between the two Lotus cars. Behind him, Vergne is fourth, Webber fifth, Rosberg seventh, and Button tenth. Schumacher takes second place with a time of 1:34.552, just over a tenth behind Grosjean. Vettel improves his time and takes the lead with a 1:34.225. Hamilton makes a small braking mistake and goes straight on.

There is half an hour of running left in these practice sessions. Felipe Massa seems to be struggling with a particularly difficult-to-drive Ferrari: Alonso is fourteenth and the Brazilian is seventeenth at the moment. Vergne is the first driver to put on the soft (yellow) tires. The front-running drivers, on the other hand, seem to be focusing more on tests with larger amounts of fuel.

Twenty minutes before the end of this session, Ricciardo takes the lead but is quickly surpassed by Michael Schumacher with a time of 1:33.796, both on soft tires. Rosberg then improves to 1:33.254 and slides to the top of the timesheet. Hamilton slots in between the two Mercedes with a time of 1:33.782. Button is on softs and takes provisional fourth place, behind Rosberg, Hamilton, and Schumacher.

Ten minutes remain to be covered. Räikkönen improves his time and takes fifth place with a 1:33.976. Many drivers are out on the track at the end of this session to take advantage of the best possible track, as it is constantly improving on this Sakhir circuit. Vettel improves his time and takes second place, 147 thousandths behind Rosberg, despite being slightly hindered in the second sector.

The session ends and it’s Nico Rosberg who once again places his Mercedes at the top of the timesheet, closely followed by Vettel. Webber’s third place seems to confirm the collective resurgence of Red Bull, while behind them, the McLarens seem to have held back. Note: only Kimi Räikkönen and Bruno Senna set their best time on medium (white) tires.

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Free Practice 3 Results of the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix: