Indian GP – Free Practice 3: Vettel Sets the Pace Before Qualifying

A temperature of 27°C in the air – and 33°C on the track – welcomes the drivers for this third free practice session of the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh circuit. As usual, drivers start this session with an installation lap, and it takes nearly a quarter of an hour before Michael Schumacher is the first to set a time, on hard tires. 1:31.768 later, the German logically moves to the top of the timesheet, before improving lap after lap, the Mercedes visibly on a race simulation pace.

Narain Karthikeyan, who is racing in place of Vitantonio Liuzzi at HRT, performs a spin at the entrance of the pits, slightly going off the racing line.

Back in the pits, Michael Schumacher is quickly deprived of his best time by Mark Webber, while the McLaren and Ferrari drivers remain in their garages. A few minutes later, one Red Bull chases another as Sebastian Vettel sets the mark at 1:28.347 on hard tires, before improving by nearly a second and a half on his next lap.

At mid-session, the German is ahead of his elder, Michael Schumacher and his teammate, Mark Webber, with a timed lap of 1:26.311. Button, Rosberg, Buemi, Alguersuari, Kobayashi, Perez, and Senna follow at a distance. Alonso, Hamilton, and Massa do not take long to move up to the front without challenging the supremacy of the Red Bull driver, while at the back of the pack, the two HRT drivers are ahead of their Virgin counterparts.

Fourteenth until then, Bruno Senna climbs into the top 5 on soft tires. On soft tires, Michael Schumacher improves his best time but remains at a reasonable distance from Vettel’s best time. The other leading drivers persist with hard tires in order to preserve the softer compounds for a final stint at the end of free practice. The Mercedes driver is moreover displaced from his third place by Mark Webber, who is still on hard tires. On the next lap, the Australian gets within less than two-tenths of his teammate.

As the last quarter-hour of testing approaches, the Red Bull drivers are ahead of Rosberg, Schumacher, Senna, Buemi, Button, Alguersuari, Alonso, Perez, Petrov, Hamilton, and Massa.

On soft tires, Fernando Alonso slots his Ferrari between the two Red Bulls while Massa, impressive since the start of the weekend, moves to the top of the timesheets, only to be immediately displaced by Jenson Button, the first driver to break the 1:26 mark this weekend with a time of 1:25.942. As Lewis Hamilton narrowly misses placing his McLaren a few thousandths behind Vettel, Fernando Alonso takes the fastest time. But the Red Bull drivers make their appearance on the track. In his first attempt on soft tires, Vettel is three-tenths off Jenson Button, who holds the provisional fastest time. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, who was told by his engineer that he could gain half a second in the last sector, seems to have found it as he places second. But very fast, Sebastian Vettel seizes the fastest time by three-tenths, after being slightly hindered in the third sector while Mark Webber slots between the two Woking cars.

The German thus achieves the best time under the checkered flag, ahead of Button, Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, and Massa before the qualifying session which you can follow live text interactively on our site from 10:15 am.

Free Practice 3 Standings of the Indian Grand Prix /f1/actualite/11777-suivez-les-qualifications-du-gp-dinde-en-direct.html: