China – Free Practice 3: Lewis Hamilton does it again

It is under a gray sky but on a dry track that Narain Karthikeyan and Jean-Eric Vergne are the first to head out of the pits for this final practice session of the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix. The track conditions are good, better than yesterday. The front grip level has also improved, so everything is going well, Heikki Kovalainen shares at the end of his installation laps.

After fifteen minutes of testing, Narain Karthikeyan is the first driver to set a benchmark time at 1:43.624, before giving up the top of the timesheet, consecutively, to Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez, and Kimi Räikkönen, all on medium tires.

Michael Schumacher and then Nico Rosberg both fall short behind the Finnish driver, who temporarily holds the fastest time at 1:37.276. Mark Webber positions himself between the Lotus driver and the two Mercedes, while Sebastian Vettel, on his first flying lap and equipped with a different version of the RB8, must settle for tenth place.

While the Ferrari and McLaren drivers are preserving their tires in the garages, Nico Rosberg takes the lead, clocking in at 1:36.985 before surrendering it to Mark Webber, who holds the best time in the second sector. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel is forced to abort his attempt and return to the pits, as the German encounters an issue with his front wing, which the Red Bull mechanics inspect as soon as he enters the garage.

As the mid-session approaches, the McLarens position their MP4-27 noses in 4th and 7th places respectively, for Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, with what appears to be used medium tires. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is the last driver to set a timed lap, in 1:37.724, to climb to the provisional tenth place.

As Sebastian Vettel returns to the track to secure the third-fastest time, Jean-Eric Vergne is the first driver to switch to soft tires, allowing him to climb to ninth place with a time of 1:37.493. The Mercedes drivers follow the Frenchman’s lead a few minutes later, logically taking control at the top of the timesheet, with Nico Rosberg ahead of Schumacher, thanks to a lap time of 1:36.512.

At the start of the final ten minutes of the session, Jenson Button, almost alone on track, sets off to attack the clock on soft tires and moves to the top with a time of 1:36.262. The Brit improves by two-tenths a few minutes later but has to concede to the charge of Lewis Hamilton, the first man to break the 1:36 barrier today.

In the final minutes, the traffic dominated, forcing Vettel in particular to abort one of his attempts. But until the checkered flag, no driver was able to overturn the dominance of the McLaren drivers, while at the hairpin braking, Paul di Resta almost ended up in the wall but managed to recover his Force India on the grass, undamaged.

Lewis Hamilton leads his teammate, Jenson Button, followed by Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher, and Mark Webber. The first Lotus driver, Kimi Räikkönen, is in tenth position, while Fernando Alonso, the leading representative of the Scuderia, is in a distant 15th place.

Join the editorial team of casinoenligne.uk.com from 07:45 to follow live the qualifying session for the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix.

Free Practice 3 Results of the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix: