Canada – Free Practice 3: Mark Webber stands out

The weather hasn’t really improved since yesterday. It’s only 15 degrees in the air, with the track showing the same temperature. The track is still damp due to precipitation. The start of this final practice session is delayed by a few minutes following an accident during one of the sessions of other categories present on this circuit. The safety rail needs to be repaired at the beginning of the straight after the hairpin.

The regulation requiring a 2-hour gap between the end of free practice and the start of qualifying means this third practice session will simply be shortened. And repairs take some time. It takes 30 minutes before the first F1 cars leave the pits.

The Caterham drivers are the first to position themselves at the end of the pit lane straight. The CT03s are fitted with intermediate tires, while Nico Rosberg has opted for rain tires on his Mercedes.

Many cars are on track and the best time regularly changes hands. 25 minutes from the end, it’s Jenson Button who is the fastest with a time of 1:26.340. The two Saubers then take the lead before being outpaced by Valtteri Bottas’s Williams with a lap time of 1:25.126. The frontrunners are on intermediate tires.

Quickly, the question arises whether to switch to dry track tires. 18 minutes before the session ends, Nico Hülkenberg believes that it is still too early for that. Hülkenberg improves his time and is 2 tenths behind Bottas.

15 minutes remain in this session and Felipe Massa steps up his pace to take the lead with a time of 1:23.492. Kimi Räikkönen, fast in the first two sectors, is unable to improve this benchmark time, coming in third. Estéban Gutiérrez, however, tops the time sheet. The Mexican, who had already spent a lot of time on the track yesterday morning, completes the lap at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in 1:23.112. At Lotus, Kimi Räikkönen returns to his pit at a particularly slow speed. With 10 minutes to the checkered flag, only 14 have recorded a time.

Sergio Pérez is the first driver to take the risk of using dry tires. After one lap, the Mexican returns to the pits to switch from medium to super soft tires. The super softs are now fitted on all single-seaters. Although the track is still tricky, Felipe Massa takes the fastest time with a lap of 1:22.482. The Brazilian is beaten by Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Maldonado, and Button. The times keep improving.

At the end of this third session, which was shortened, it is Mark Webber who set the fastest time at 1:17.895. The Australian leads Sutil, Hamilton, Alonso, and Vettel.

Free Practice 3 standings of the Canadian Grand Prix: