South Korea – Free Practice 3: Vettel Alone in the World

It is in front of sparse stands and under a cloudy sky that the last free practice session of the South Korean Grand Prix begins. Temperature-wise, the mercury shows 19 degrees in the air and 29 on the track.

After an installation lap, the drivers return to their pits, and it takes until the 16th minute to see a driver record a time on the scoreboard. 1:46.111 for Kimi Räikkönen, who slightly missed in turn number 10. The Finn improves on the next pass with 1:39.748. Romain Grosjean places one-tenth behind his teammate before Sebastian Vettel, who is the favorite for this afternoon’s pole, overtakes everyone in the standings with a lap clocked at 1:39.086. At this point in the session, the drivers are equipped with the soft tires provided by Pirelli.

At mid-session, Mark Webber is the fastest with a time of 1:38.766, which is quicker than Vettel’s best time during FP2 yesterday afternoon. The Australian is ahead of Alonso and Vettel. The battle for pole is likely to be intense. With 25 minutes remaining, the two McLaren drivers join the Top 3 within less than a tenth of Webber. Vettel and Alonso are three-tenths behind the Australian.

Further down in the rankings, Jean-Eric Vergne switches to super-soft tires and improves his time but not his position; the Frenchman remains 18th behind Bruno Senna, who is trying a new front wing on his Williams.

After a group shot from Lotus at the beginning of the session and then a Red Bull one-two, it’s the turn of the two McLaren drivers to occupy the top two positions in the provisional standings of this last practice session before being overtaken by Vettel, still on soft tires. The German sets a time of 1:38.215.

Many drivers return to the pits before the last 10 minutes. Hamilton and Alonso get back on track with super soft tires with only 8 minutes remaining in this session. At Red Bull, there is a lot of activity around Webber’s car, especially at the rear of the RB8. Despite new tires, no one manages to compete with Vettel who improves his best time by two-tenths while the Lotus cars make it into the Top 5 with Grosjean in 4th and Räikkönen in 5th.

Sebastian Vettel finishes this final session on top, improving his time on his last run. Lewis Hamilton, in second, is 0.5 seconds behind. Button, Grosjean, and Räikkönen complete the Top 5.

Free Practice 3 Results of the 2012 South Korean Grand Prix: