Bahrain – Free Practice 3: Alonso the fastest before qualifying

The conditions of these free practice sessions 3 are similar to Friday, with intense heat that affects both the drivers and their tires equally. The track temperature is 38 degrees. The temperature is expected to increase further by Sunday afternoon, and before the session, Jean-Eric Vergne even mentions a possible switch to a strategy involving four pit stops for the race.

The first single-seaters to hit the track are those of Max Chilton and Adrian Sutil, quickly joined by many other drivers for a first installation lap.

**After less than five minutes** in this third session, it’s Esteban Gutiérrez who sets the first time of the day with 1:42.573. The Sauber driver quickly improves his time, taking advantage of being alone on the track. After a few laps, he is joined by the two Caterham drivers and Sebastian Vettel.

**The first quarter hour** is quite calm with only three cars recorded with a time. It is the moment chosen by the heavy hitters to storm the track. Mark Webber sets the fastest time in 1:33.875. Kimi Räikkönen, the fastest man yesterday, places second behind the Australian’s RB9. A few minutes later, it’s Romain Grosjean who goes ahead of everyone with 1:33.762, the French driver having a new chassis for this fourth Grand Prix of the season. Many drivers improve, like Felipe Massa, who places third. Nico Rosberg is very fast in the first sector but loses a lot of time in the other two. Crossing the line, it’s the tenth fastest time for the German. Things go better during his next attempt. Rosberg puts his Mercedes in third place but is immediately surpassed by Vettel and Paul di Resta.

After 30 minutes, Sebastian Vettel reassures himself by taking the benchmark time at 1:33.348. Romain Grosjean is second, Alonso third. At the bottom of the standings, Caterham outperforms the two Marussia cars of Bianchi and Chilton. At this point in the session, many drivers are using hard tires and completing long stints.

Fernando Alonso lost control of his Ferrari F138 at the exit of turn number 2. It was a relatively harmless incident for the Spaniard, who returned to the track to head back to the pits and ensure that his car wasn’t damaged.

As the final 15 minutes begin of this last practice session, Sebastian Vettel still holds the best time ahead of Grosjean and Alonso. Over at Mercedes, they’re switching back to the softest tires offered by Pirelli, namely the P-Zero mediums. Lewis Hamilton moves up to second and Nico Rosberg to 5th. This hierarchy is likely to change in the last 10 minutes. Fernando Alonso, back after his small off-track excursion, is the first to improve this reference time to 1:33.247. Kimi Räikkönen also improves his time and moves into 3rd. Romain Grosjean and Adrian Sutil improve as well, positioning themselves fifth and sixth respectively.

At the end of this session, it is Fernando Alonso who clocked the best time of 1:33.247. The Spaniard leads Vettel and Webber. The session concluded with a notable incident as the right rear suspension of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes broke.

Free Practice 3 Results of the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix: