Vettel beats Webber with one lap in final practice

Spanish Grand Prix third practice

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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Barcelona, 2011

Sebastian Vettel missed much of the session as the team investigated an engine problem on his car.

He finally made it out of the pits with three minutes to spare. But that was all he needed to beat his team mate’s time by eight hundredths of a second.

Michael Schumacher was third-fastest for Mercedes ahead of the two McLarens.

Team mate Nico Rosberg looked on course for a good time before catching Vitaly Petrov’s Renault in the final sector.

Nick Heidfeld had a scare in the other Renault when his car caught fire halfway through the session.

The R31 began spitting flames as he came out of Campsa, and the car was engulfed by fire as he braked to a stop. He jumped clear of the car while the marshals quickly brought the fire under control.

Renault admitted a sensor had reported high temperatures on the right-hand side of Heidfeld’s car as he left the pits, but they mistakenly believed the sensor was faulty.

Ferrari endured a difficult session after being told they could not run their new rear wing which infringed the technical rules.

Fernando Alonso headed for the pits after his car became stuck in sixth gear, and Felipe Massa was told on his radio his rear wing wasn’t working properly.

At the end of the session five cars were slower than 107% of Vettel’s time: Heidfeld’s Renault, plus the HRTs and Virgins. The latter two teams have taken the exhaust-blown diffusers off their cars, prompting speculation they could protest the devices used by their rivals.

Pos.CarDriverCarBest lapGap
11Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’21.7076
22Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’21.7910.08417
37Michael SchumacherMercedes1’23.0571.35016
43Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’23.0681.36113
54Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’23.2141.50714
68Nico RosbergMercedes1’23.3971.69018
716Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’23.6691.96217
810Vitaly PetrovRenault1’24.0432.33618
95Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’24.2702.56311
1011Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’24.3182.61118
116Felipe MassaFerrari1’24.3222.61517
1217Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’24.3292.62219
1312Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’24.3992.69217
1418Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’24.5352.82816
1514Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’24.6952.98818
1619Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’24.7223.01514
1715Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’25.2233.51619
1820Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault1’26.2364.52911
1921Jarno TrulliLotus-Renault1’27.0005.29320
2024Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’27.7065.99920
2123Vitantonio LiuzziHRT-Cosworth1’28.3306.62317
2225Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’29.0577.35018
239Nick HeidfeldRenault1’29.2007.4936
2422Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’29.5627.85516

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Total laps
1Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’26.1491’22.8261’21.70763
2Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’25.1421’22.4701’21.79179
3Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’26.9881’22.5091’23.06859
4Michael SchumacherMercedes1’27.0161’23.9811’23.05778
5Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’27.1381’23.1881’23.21468
6Nico RosbergMercedes1’26.3791’23.5861’23.39782
7Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’26.4801’23.5681’24.27072
8Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’28.8191’24.2901’23.66973
9Vitaly PetrovRenault1’27.2411’24.7861’24.04383
10Felipe MassaFerrari1’28.6541’24.2781’24.32275
11Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’27.2121’25.3031’24.31876
12Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’26.7381’24.4831’24.32983
13Nick HeidfeldRenault1’27.1321’24.3661’29.20058
14Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’28.0051’25.6031’24.39971
15Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.2961’24.53549
16Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’28.1631’27.1231’24.69560
17Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’28.9951’25.4571’24.72257
18Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’26.0731’25.22351
19Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault1’29.2311’26.4171’26.23669
20Jarno TrulliLotus-Renault1’31.4181’27.1891’27.00066
21Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’27.47123
22Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’31.2351’28.0621’27.70672
23Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’28.02726
24Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’30.8961’28.0361’29.05772
25Vitantonio LiuzziHRT-Cosworth1’31.2681’29.4761’28.33071
26Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’32.1061’29.4691’29.56269

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

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    45 comments on “Vettel beats Webber with one lap in final practice”

    1. feeling depressed now……

    2. Why did HRT and Virgin take the blown-diffusers off if they’re still allowed? Does it cost in terms of time?

      1. Maybe because they haven’t got them to work.

      2. They don’t want to be dragged into any EBD protests.

    3. Redbull looking VERY strong. Still think Webber may just snag pole. You have to remember Webber was on a better lap but backed off. Vettel proberly had light fuel also for just one flying lap.

      Who knows. Well we know a Redbull will be on pole!

      1. Hope to see Webber take the pole!!

    4. FP3 made my prediction for this race ridiculously difficult. All of a sudden Ferrari are off the pace, and Vettel still is the favourite to take pole and now Mercedes looks stronger than Mclaren as well. Argh…

      1. yeah, it is so tough! merc have a better 1 lap pace than mclaren but a worse race pace than renault and you never know what alonso can pull out from nowhere either. all we need is a few exploding red bulls and we would have the perfect race.

      2. Mercedes always flatter to deceive in Free Practice.

        1. rosberg did qualify 3rd in the last race

          1. But they’ve gone back to their usual ways. Plus Rosberg didn’t end up finishing 3rd.

    5. Briatore is a jerk but I’m almost convinced that he was right about scraping the F150°

    6. Didn’t see FP3, Ferrari told not to run the new wing?

      1. They’re back to running the Turkey wing.

        1. Turkey wings really suck, that’s why turkeys can’t fly…

    7. Did anyone see the Merc drivers lifting their left hand to press a lever??? I wonder if thats the magic paddle and I thought it was illegal as well

      1. probably the bias lever

      2. That’s the brake bias knob, as it’s not allowed to be on the steering wheel.

    8. davidsclifford@btinternet.com (@)
      21st May 2011, 11:30

      Virgin say they took off their exhaust blown diffuser just in case another team protested against them! How unlikely is that? Why protest a team that is at the back of the grid all of the time, unless they cause issues during the race? Well, the skeptic would say that they’re positioning themselves, along with HRT, for a protest. Unpopular? Yes, but they’ll argue that they need points and points mean cash. We don’t need this, the FIA need to stop prevaricating and make a statement that gives the teams a grace period to address the issue.

      1. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if all the other teams were excluded from the results leaving Virgin and HRT as the only eligible finishers . . . Narain for WDC!

        1. Narain still would finish last amongst those 4 drivers

          1. Narain still would finish last amongst those 4 drivers

            Yeah but under the complicated rules of F1 it’d still mean he’s the winner.

            GO NARAIN!

      2. Err I think you put your email address into the nickname box, its a prime way to get spam emails, on what looks like your main account buddy.

        Just thought I’d give you a fair warning.

        About the Virgin diffuser, I find that team really really strange, they talk as if they are one of the big hitters. At least HRT are aware of their issues.

        1. DSC-MSXS (@)
          21st May 2011, 11:41

          Oops, yes, thanks for pointing that out SushiM. I’m back as my alter ego now.

      3. a protest – if it happens- would be done against all teams using EBD’s off throttle, hence Virgin’s explanation is that they are covering for that possibility, not expecting a direct complaint against them in particular.

        On another note: why is everyone looking so much into the FP times, they’re still half a second off of Schumi’s preseason best, so times will surely drop considerably in quali, nobody’s showing their cards just yet

    9. So. Any ideas about who’s going to be on pole?

      1. I reckon its Webber

        :D

    10. Hope its not finger boy, Would love to see Webbo on pole or even Schumi

      1. Schumi? Thats a little too wishful.. but it definitely is Webber’s best chance to take pole from his teammate.

      2. I don’t hold any hope for the doughnut kid getting it. Maybe Schumacher can give them a scare?

    11. nah, he looks around 7 tenths off the pace, macca would be my best bet to give finger kid a scare

    12. Sauber are looking really good, I expect to see at least one of them in Q3, though I believe both are very capable of doing so.

    13. I would love to see HRT or virgin protest about the device after the race tomorrow

      :D

      1. I really doubt anyone is going to listen to them. Its quite a sneaky move on their part though, they weren’t gaining much from the EBD anyways, so why not take it off and complain to the indecisive FIA.

        I hope one of the frontrunners put on a pair of softs on in Q1, and get them out of the 107% time. That would be hilarious.

      2. I can’t see it happening. Ok, they may get some valuable points towards their final championship position but they will nark off alot of people along the way. HRT aren’t in FOTA and this certainly won’t help them make any friends.

    14. Sick of Red Bull
      21st May 2011, 12:00

      I have lost interest in Quali because of Red Bull dominance ! They will lock out the front row again ! Mclaren, Ferrari and Mercedes please do something to stop Red bull!

      1. It’s not just about the front row y’know. Most of the exciting stuff is around the back end of Q2.

    15. Somebody tell Ferrari to chat to Red Bull about introducing new parts ie: interpretation of the rules, concentration on grey areas and reading rules to your advantage.

      1. If that’s the best that Ferrari can come up with……….

      2. Ferrari did try to exploit a grey area with their new rear wing.. unfortunately it was deemed illegal, and now Ferrari are screwed.

    16. Ugh. Looking like this race could well be a snooze (again) up at the pointy end.

    17. If EBD is disallowed or banned, which teams are not running it? In the front half of the field it would be Merc and Renault, correct?

      1. No they are blowing the floor or diffuser. It would hurt them as well. Not sure who is the most front runner not using it but its definitely not those two.

      2. PS Renault will probably be the worst affected, their whole car is designed around the blown floor which also needs the soon to be banned off throttle gases.

    18. Hope Heidfeld can get out in qualifying, that looked really nasty.

    Comments are closed.