Abu Dhabi GP – Free Practice 3: Hamilton leads ahead of Vettel and Webber

Once again, it is the sun that awaits the drivers along with a track heated to 42°C at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. As is traditional, the drivers rush out of the pits as soon as the green light for their installation laps, without clocking any timed laps. After 10 minutes of relative calm, Jérôme d’Ambrosio is the first to trigger the timing beam and completes the first lap of this practice session in 1:49.573. But the Belgian is quickly displaced by Sergio Perez, whose Sauber lapped the Yas Marina Circuit in 1:44.566.

A few moments later, Felipe Massa is the first of the leading drivers to clock a time of 1:43.132 on medium tires, but, as in the earlier sessions of the weekend, the McLaren shows its strength and Jenson Button takes the top of the timing sheet with a 1:42.163.

Hamilton sets the fastest time in the first two sectors but encounters Michael Schumacher at the beginning of the third sector. This does not prevent the Brit from achieving the fastest lap in 1:41.283, immediately lowered below the 1:41 mark by Button. The Woking men give the impression of being the only ones on the track, which is not far from the truth, as it’s only at the end of the first half-hour of practice that the Red Bull drivers venture onto the track.

In his first attempt, Vettel takes the third-fastest time before conceding it to Mark Webber. After half an hour of testing, Button leads ahead of Hamilton, Vettel, Webber, Massa, Sutil, Rosberg, Alonso, Schumacher, and Kobayashi. At the back of the pack, the HRT drivers once again outpace their counterparts from Virgin and the T128 of Jarno Trulli, who is stuck in the pits due to a gearbox problem and will not return to the track.

But this ranking is immediately altered by Mark Webber, who places his car just two thousandths of a second off Button’s best time at the timing line. As for Alonso, he moves up two positions in the hierarchy, settling just behind Perez’s Sauber, the 5th fastest time on soft tires. The Spaniard also has a slight scare by going wide and flirting with the wall at the exit of the first chicane.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel grabs the best time by five hundredths ahead of Button, before being ousted by Lewis Hamilton, who clocked a lap in 1:40.661, the best time in the last two sectors.

Felipe Massa is the first of the top drivers to switch to soft tires and climbs to the top of the provisional standings, while Rosberg, also on the softest tires offered by Pirelli, places his Mercedes in 3rd position. A few moments later, Sutil takes the lead with his Force India before Massa regains the top spot on the following lap, with a time of 1:40.183.

As the final quarter hour of testing approaches, Massa leads ahead of Sutil, Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Schumacher, Button, Webber, Perez, and Buemi. Alonso, in tenth, leads the other Spaniard on the grid, Alguersuari, while the Lotus Renault Grand Prix drivers are in 14th and 17th positions, respectively.

The drivers still on track are improving lap after lap as soft tires are in use and the cars are running lighter on fuel: Rosberg thus takes the fastest time, with 48 thousandths of a second ahead of Felipe Massa.

With 8 minutes to go until the checkered flag, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso are the first to lead the cavalry charge, as is often the case at the end of the third free practice session. The Australian is the first to cross the timing line with a 1:39.668, followed by Fernando Alonso, who climbs to second place, three-tenths behind. However, the McLarens are not holding back, as Hamilton sets the fastest time, with Button finishing in 4th position. Hampered by two cars in his final sector – including that of his teammate – Mark Webber improves but has to settle for the second-fastest time, while Alonso gains a few tenths to climb to 3rd place.

At the checkered flag, Lewis Hamilton is the first to go under the one minute 39-second mark, a time that the Red Bull drivers are unable to contest. The 2008 world champion thus leads Vettel, Webber, Button, and Alonso, positioning himself as the favorite for the qualifying sessions that you can follow, like every Grand Prix, in live interactive text with the entire casinoenligne.uk.com team from 1:45 pm.

The Free Practice 3 Standings of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix /f1/news/11895-follow-the-qualifications-of-the-abu-dhabi-gp-2011-live.html: