Germany – Free Practice 3: Vettel stays on course!

The sky is completely blue, and the temperatures are very pleasant this late morning at the Nürburgring. It is 22 degrees in the air while the track proudly displays 33 degrees.

Di Resta and Hülkenberg are the first to take to the track. The two men are quickly followed by many other drivers. Among them, Pastor Maldonado. Despite a KERS issue encountered this morning in the Williams garage, the FW35 is ready for action.

The first time of the day was set by Sergio Pérez at 1:34.382. This time was quickly improved by the Mexican himself, then by Button and Rosberg, who took the top spot on the timing sheet with a lap completed in 1:31.911. The German increased his advantage on the next lap, relegating Button to just over a second behind.

After the first quarter hour, we find Rosberg at the head of the pack ahead of Hamilton, Räikkönen, Button, and Pérez. There are only 13 drivers with a recorded time.

The duel between Mercedes and Red Bull continues. Vettel takes the best time of the morning with 1:31.365, two-tenths better than Nico Rosberg’s time.

After 20 minutes, we still haven’t seen the Ferraris. Massa and Alonso just did an installation lap at the very beginning of the session.

There are 35 minutes remaining when Fernando Alonso decides to return to the track while Pastor Maldonado gathers some gravel at the Dunlop hairpin.

Alonso completes a first flying lap that immediately places him in the top 10. Eighth time for the Spaniard just over 30 minutes from the checkered flag. Massa is also on track and sets the 12th fastest time of the session. At this stage, Vettel is first ahead of Webber, Rosberg, Grosjean, and Hamilton. Positions that hardly change in the following 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes from the end of this final practice session, the same drivers occupy the top 5 places. Behind, Alonso, Räikkönen, Massa, Hülkenberg, and Ricciardo complete the top 10.

At the start of the last 10 minutes, Fernando Alonso charges back and positions himself ahead of the Red Bulls. The Spaniard, equipped with soft tires, is 0.6 seconds ahead of the two RB9s. Felipe Massa is on the same trajectory and places 2nd just a whisker behind his teammate. A brief domination for the F138s as they are quickly overtaken by Nico Rosberg with a time of 1:30.193, which is 0.4 seconds better than Alonso.

With the soft tires from the Pirelli range, times keep improving and positions change hands with each lap.

At the end of the 60 minutes of this last free practice session, we find Vettel with a time of 1:29.517 ahead of Rosberg, Webber, Alonso, Massa, Räikkönen, Hamilton, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, and Sutil.

Free Practice 3 Results of the 2013 German Grand Prix