Australian GP: Free Practice 3 – Sebastian Vettel crushes the competition

The Australian Grand Prix is underway, with free practice 3 taking place last night at 4 AM (French time), and therefore at 2 PM in Australia, since the qualifying and the race are held at 5 PM (local time) for the enjoyment of European viewers.

Most drivers started with an installation lap on a dry track, but it was cool with not even twenty degrees on the clock. After a few meters, Liuzzi’s HRT stopped on the side of the track, while the two Virgin drivers set the first times of the session. Several others joined them with hard tires, including the Lotus Renault drivers who climbed to the top of the time sheet, quickly displaced by Sebastian Vettel, before Pastor Maldonado lost control of his car, leaving it stranded in the gravel. Surprisingly, the driver stayed in his car while the marshals cleared the Williams, which remained surprisingly upright, showing very good balance. The drivers are all working with hard tires, as they did during the first free practice sessions the day before.

After 30 minutes of the session, the 22 drivers who have set a lap time are within 7 seconds of each other, given that the two HRT drivers have not set any lap time yet, while Narain Karthikeyan hasn’t even taken his car out of the garage. It’s hard to imagine the small Spanish team being able to qualify for tomorrow’s race with the 107% rule. Mark Webber is the first to go under the 1’27 mark, on hard tires, before continuing a series of quick laps, but held up by traffic. Surprisingly, Sebastien Buemi takes second place before Button moves to the top of the timesheet with 1’25.9 on soft tires, while Mark Webber clocks in at 1’26.1 on hard tires, despite the performance gap between the tire compounds!

The reigning world champion sets the third-best time before improving it to 1’25’327, pushing Jenson Button’s time back by 0.6 seconds, widening the gap in the third sector before returning to the pits. Fernando Alonso also takes to the track, moving up to third place ahead of Mark Webber, as we see some drivers switching to soft tires. This is necessary because, even though the top four drivers are within eight-tenths of a second, Buemi in fifth position is relegated to 1.6 seconds behind. Lewis Hamilton clocks the third-best time, slotting between his teammate and the Spanish Ferrari driver. Karthikeyan finally hits the track on soft tires but acts as a roadblock before returning to the pits without setting a single time. Colin Kolles’ team is unlikely to meet the level he announced in the press if they ever manage to complete two consecutive laps, which doesn’t seem likely this weekend. The two HRT drivers have yet to record any times during free practice, raising the question of their participation in the race.

The fast laps continue with Vitaly Petrov appearing in second position, before being pushed back by Mark Webber. The drivers are testing the cars on soft tires, while Vettel improves by almost a second, clocking in at 1’24’507! Webber is the only driver within less than a second of the reigning world champion.

An HRT finally sets a time, at 1’40 with soft tires, well outside the 107%, while Sebastian Vettel drives the point home by setting the second fastest time, far ahead of the others.

The session ends with a strong dominance from Red Bull, with a car driven by the world champion who sets two very fast times, far ahead of his opponents. The two McLarens follow, while Vitaly Petrov brings his car to the fifth position.

If the times during Q1 are similar, D’Ambrosio and the two HRT drivers will not be able to take part in the race. Fortunately for them, most of the very fast drivers use hard tires during this session, giving them a chance, at least for the Virgin driver.