Vettel heads final practice session

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Sebastian Vettel was fastest in third practice at the European Grand Prix.

He headed Robert Kubica and Mark Webber after a close final practice session in Valencia.

There were some surprising names towards the top of the times sheets with Adrian Sutil setting fourth-fastest time and Rubens Barrichello sixth for Williams.

Several drivers hit traffic at the end of the hour’s running. Among those who struggled to improve were the McLaren drivers who ended the session in ninth and tenth

But the MP4/25s had rarely looked like a match for the RB6s – now using their version of the F-duct – and the updated Ferraris.

Alonso was among the quickest runners while the drivers ran medium tyres early in the session. But he found little time when he switched to super-soft tyres at the end of practice.

It raises the prospect of a closely-fought qualifying session ahead of the European Grand Prix.

Pos.CarDriverCarBest lapLaps
15Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’38.05214
211Robert KubicaRenault1’38.1540.10217
36Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’38.3130.26113
414Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’38.5000.44817
58Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’38.5130.46118
69Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’38.6230.57115
715Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’38.6760.62417
87Felipe MassaFerrari1’38.6860.63416
91Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’38.7690.71716
102Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’38.8160.76415
114Nico RosbergMercedes1’38.8220.7715
1216Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’39.0500.99816
1310Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’39.1051.05315
1412Vitaly PetrovRenault1’39.1131.06116
153Michael SchumacherMercedes1’39.2221.1714
1617Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’39.3921.3418
1723Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’39.5271.47516
1822Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’39.6991.64716
1919Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’41.3033.25119
2018Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’41.4283.37620
2124Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’41.9553.90317
2225Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’42.3544.30218
2321Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth1’42.6114.55918
2420Karun ChandhokHRT-Cosworth1’42.6224.5719

Complete European Grand Prix practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Total laps
1Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’42.2161’39.3391’38.05265
2Robert KubicaRenault1’41.7151’39.8801’38.15465
3Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’42.2751’39.4271’38.31359
4Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’40.0201’38.50047
5Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’42.4211’39.2831’38.51373
6Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’42.4631’40.1741’38.62369
7Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’43.3801’40.3871’38.67669
8Felipe MassaFerrari1’42.1821’39.9471’38.68659
9Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’41.3831’40.0291’38.76964
10Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’41.3391’39.7491’38.81658
11Nico RosbergMercedes1’41.1751’39.6501’38.82253
12Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’43.3101’41.1151’39.05074
13Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’42.7071’41.3711’39.10568
14Vitaly PetrovRenault1’42.9621’40.6181’39.11362
15Michael SchumacherMercedes1’42.3121’40.2871’39.22256
16Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’44.1831’41.4571’39.39275
17Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’43.7291’40.9061’39.52771
18Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’43.3971’40.9451’39.69967
19Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’44.4911’42.4671’41.30371
20Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’47.2851’42.9931’41.42868
21Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’45.6531’43.8111’41.95554
22Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’47.3561’43.8541’42.35469
23Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth1’47.1231’44.0951’42.61159
24Karun ChandhokHRT-Cosworth1’44.5661’42.62240
25Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’43.43718
26Christian KlienHRT-Cosworth1’47.34314

2010 European Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    7 comments on “Vettel heads final practice session”

    1. Profile Photo

      BasCB (@bascb)
      26th June 2010, 11:18

      looks like Williams might be on to something with their improvements. Or the track is really good for Rubens again.

      At the back we see the familiar faces, almost 2 seconds between the new teams and Sauber.

      1. Profile Photo

        miguelF1O (@)
        26th June 2010, 11:26

        looks like yesterday only the new teams were running low fuel cause today there is a wider gap between them and the established ones yesterday fp1 kov finished 3 tenths off sauber i was quite surprised and he was a lot faster than trulli i think mark webber is still favourite for qualy hes hiding something my bet after this last session would be a bit different specially cause i thought the mclaren were going to be faster than they were i was putting hamilon 4th but now im not sure

    2. davey
      26th June 2010, 11:21

      force india and williams ahead of mclaren??? LOL. those sandbagging sob’s

      Hamilton was incredibly happy in the car all of Friday when he was lapping in 5th place on a full load of fuel…

      Talk about an easy pole…

      bets anyone? :)

      1. bosyber
        26th June 2010, 11:59

        That sounds maybe a bit ambitious, but McLaren do not really seem worried about their pace, so maybe they were holding back.

        Will be interesting to see if Ferrari manage to find some better pace on those softer tires in qualifying.

    3. SijS
      26th June 2010, 11:28

      Good work from FI and Rubens. Are FI running their SRW, they top speed traps as well!

    4. Petron@s
      26th June 2010, 11:56

      RS27 rules… TOP 3 !!!

      Renault is getting stronger…
      KUB in Quali: PP is avaiable ;))

    5. J
      26th June 2010, 12:27

      Looks like red bull has this one in the bag

    Comments are closed.