Great Britain – Free Practice 3: Alonso Leads on Dry Track

It is on a dry track and under a cloudy sky that the drivers prepare to participate in the third free practice session of the British Grand Prix, the first where they can really run with the Soft and Hard tires provided by Pirelli. In fact, it’s a full house at the pit exit as, at the green light, all drivers, without exception, hit the track to evaluate the new updates brought by their respective teams, as rain is expected to resume in the afternoon.

If usually the drivers return to the pits after their first laps, most of them cross the timing line. However, the track still has traces of moisture, and Kimi Räikkönen gets caught in the Becketts-Chapel sequence. The Finn sets the first reference time, immediately beaten by the following drivers, notably Michael Schumacher, who immediately clocks a lap in 1:34.517 on Hard tires. Nico Rosberg improves moments later with a 1:33.733, also on Hard tires, like his teammate.

After 10 minutes of testing, 12 drivers recorded a timed lap, with, in order, Rosberg, Schumacher, Maldonado, Button, Hülkenberg, Webber, Grosjean, Räikkönen, Kovalainen, Ricciardo, Vergne, and Petrov. Sergio Pérez and Kamui Kobayashi got caught like Kimi Räikkönen in the Becketts-Chapel sequence, while Paul di Resta was also trapped by a wet spot, spinning his Force India. This didn’t prevent the two Sauber drivers from reaching the fifth and sixth positions, while Felipe Massa was the only driver without a time after the first quarter-hour of testing. However, the Paulista soon corrected this by moving up to 12th place.

Meanwhile, his teammate, still on Hard tires, climbs to 3rd place, behind Jenson Button who is on track with Soft tires. Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, takes the fastest lap on the following lap with a time of 1:33.606 but soon has to relinquish it to Lewis Hamilton, who sets the best times in the first and third sectors, with a time of 1:33.084 (Hard).

After 20 minutes of testing, Charles Pic caused a yellow flag by stopping his Marussia on the side, apparently due to an engine problem. For the Anglo-Russian team, which has a significant update for its MR01 at Silverstone, this session on the dry track is very important. The race management even raised the red flag so that the marshals could proceed with the evacuation of the French driver’s car.

On the restart, it’s once again a bottleneck at the pit exit as a light rain falls on some parts of the circuit: not enough to trouble the drivers and their machines. Alonso (Hard tires) takes the opportunity to close in on Hamilton’s best time, while Button, on Soft tires, grabs the fastest time at 1:32.851. Also on yellow-walled tires, Lewis Hamilton regains his lead by a small tenth, while Pérez (Hard), Grosjean (Hard), and Vettel (Soft) come between the McLaren drivers and Fernando Alonso.

At the back of the pack, the Force India are ahead of the two Caterham while, after being dominated by HRT in the last two races, the Marussia seem to have regained the advantage over their Spanish rivals.

Best times in the second and third sectors, Romain Grosjean places his Lotus E20 at the top of the hierarchy with 1:32.471 on Hard tires while Alonso, on Soft tires, surpasses him with 1:32.167. At the start of the last third of the session, the Spaniard thus leads the Frenchman followed by Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sergio Pérez, Kimi Räikkönen, Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastian Vettel, Bruno Senna, and Mark Webber. The Ferrari driver, however, makes a mistake after putting the wheels on the astroturf behind the curb at the last corner. The native of Oviedo remains blocked on the track for several seconds before finding reverse gear.

After improving the first sector and missing Grosjean’s best time by 5 milliseconds in the second sector, Lewis Hamilton (on Softs) improves but remains in third place. Also setting the best time in the first sector, Kamui Kobayashi does a 360° in the last corner and logically does not improve. A few seconds earlier, his teammate had gone straight into the grass where he ended up with a front wing caught on a bump.

Performing well on Hard tires, the Lotuses confirm their performance on Soft tires, with Grosjean reclaiming second place from Räikkönen. However, the Hard tires seem more suitable in these conditions as the Frenchman’s improvement is not enough to trouble Fernando Alonso. Returning to the track, Charles Pic immobilizes his Marussia again on the side along Hangar Straight. The track marshals wave the yellow flag as Fernando Alonso sets the fastest time in the first sector.

Discreet until now, Sebastian Vettel moves his Red Bull to 3rd place on Soft tires, while with Hard tires, Jenson Button climbs to the second rank, thus confirming the advantage of silver-banded tires in this session.

Under the checkered flag, Fernando Alonso retains his best time despite the final charge from Sebastian Vettel, who settles for 4th place. With the best time on Hard tires, Jenson Button, in second place, is waiting in the wings while Romain Grosjean and Kimi Räikkönen, respectively 3rd and 5th, were the most persistent on the track.

Free Practice 3 Results of the 2012 British Grand Prix: