Alonso quickest despite spin in final practice

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix third practice

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Fernando Alonso was quickest in the final practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix despite spinning.

Lotus led the way early in the session but this time it was Romain Grosjean who headed the times with a 1’33.464.

Ferrari made their customary late appearance in the final practice session, taking to the track halfway through. But Fernando Alonso couldn’t beat Grosjean’s time, setting a 1’33.620 for second.

Both drivers were relegated when Sebastian Vettel took to the track and lowered the quickest time on hard tyres to a 1’33.348.

Alonso hit hit trouble when he returned to the track for his second run. The F138 snapped out of control at the exit of turn two, pitching him into the gravel trap. He carefully extracted his car from the run-off and returned to the pits.

Mercedes were the first team to switch to the medium compound tyres, but Lewis Hamilton was unable to beat Vettel’s fastest time on hards. A 1’33.455 left him second.

Alonso produced a clean lap with his first run on mediums and took the fastest time off Vettel with a 1’33.247. But when the Red Bull driver came out at the end of the session he caught Charles Pic at the final corner and had to back off.

Mark Webber improved to third with his last lap. Kimi Raikkonen took fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who suffered a puncture at the end of the session.

The margins between the leading cars was very slim, with 0.675s covering the top ten. Felipe Massa was among those outside the top ten, followed by Jenson Button, who complained of traffic on his last lap. His team mate also complained he’d been held up in the last corner by Alonso.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
13Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’33.24712
21Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’33.3480.10115
32Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’33.3800.13319
47Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’33.4460.19921
510Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’33.4550.20819
68Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’33.4640.21719
715Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’33.5960.34917
814Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’33.7000.45315
99Nico RosbergMercedes1’33.7640.51719
1011Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’33.9220.67517
114Felipe MassaFerrari1’33.9490.70220
125Jenson ButtonMcLaren1’34.1170.87017
136Sergio PerezMcLaren1’34.2821.03518
1419Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’34.5771.33016
1517Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’34.6111.36417
1618Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’34.6781.43116
1716Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’34.8331.58617
1820Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’35.8162.56916
1922Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’36.7313.48417
2021Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’36.9393.69216
2123Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’37.6304.3837
2212Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’39.5926.34529

Complete Bahrain Grand Prix practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’34.5641’34.3101’33.247-1.06360
2Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’34.7901’34.2821’33.348-0.93464
3Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’35.1011’34.1841’33.380-0.80464
4Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’35.3451’34.1541’33.446-0.70869
5Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’35.7921’34.9761’33.455-1.52164
6Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’35.6111’34.6311’33.464-1.16766
7Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’35.1191’34.9321’33.596-1.33669
8Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’34.9491’34.5431’33.700-0.84367
9Nico RosbergMercedes1’34.6211’34.6661’33.764-0.85778
10Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’36.7551’36.1331’33.922-2.21173
11Felipe MassaFerrari1’34.4871’34.5521’33.949-0.53865
12Jenson ButtonMcLaren1’35.0691’35.3561’34.117-0.95271
13Sergio PerezMcLaren1’35.6401’35.5891’34.282-1.30778
14Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’36.4851’35.7611’34.577-1.18469
15Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’35.7831’36.5791’34.611-1.17261
16Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’36.0141’35.5061’34.678-0.82871
17Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’36.4981’36.2791’34.833-1.44667
18Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’37.8501’37.0611’35.816-1.24569
19Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’37.2141’36.6161’39.592+2.97684
20Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’37.3631’36.731-0.63246
21Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’37.9701’36.939-1.03129
22Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’39.4451’37.3131’37.630+0.31752
23Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1’38.40120
24Rodolfo GonzalezMarussia-Cosworth1’40.2157

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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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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23 comments on “Alonso quickest despite spin in final practice”

  1. It should be pretty intense for the pole even though I don’t think it’s gonna be one of Ferraris.

  2. Force India have rolled up their sleeves

  3. Nico really should have stayed at Force India. Oh well hindsight is a wonderful if sometimes cruel thing. Hopefully this doesn’t hurt him in the long run.

  4. Regarding Hamilton’s end of session issue with the Left/Rear.

    I’d be surprised if a suspension failure would immediately tear the entire tread off a tyre, more likely a tyre failure which broke the suspension.

  5. It seems everybody can be fast in this Ferrari – the rest of the field might as well accept that they aren’t driving against Alonso but Pat Fry.

    1. Dint see Chilton setting the fastest time on a Ferrari.. Maybe I missed something :)

    2. +21, + 25, +41

      Do you know what are these numbers ?…No no they are not lottery numbers…They are…hmm…how to say “everybody “…

    3. It’s very typical for Alonso and Ferrari to do well at the Tilkedromes. It’s as if they’ve designed the car for the general lines of those tracks and Alonso seems to be incapable of winning on a non-Tilke designed track.

      ;)

      1. @npf1

        I see what you did there ;)

  6. I think Vettel is looking good for pole… His run on the medium component was compromised by traffic otherwise he would have gone quicker… Hope I am wrong :)

  7. Vettel clearly fasted. Just one tenth slower on hards than Alonso on medium.

    1. is he on hard… i thought he also using soft for that lap time

      1. sorry medium

      2. No, his last lap was on mediums but he had to abort, so his time on the hards was his fastest.

    2. Agree. Vettel favourite for pole

  8. Q3 should be a one man show with Vettel within 0.1 despite setting his time on the harder compound.

  9. What’s up with Massa going slow again. Back to old habits?

    1. Fernando is back in form.

  10. Vettel for Pole…if Webber digs deep it could very well be a front row lock out for the bulls.

    Ferrari or Lotus to win the race!

    1. Well, Webber unfortunately has a five grid penalty. Even if he gets pole, he will sit six on the grid.

      1. to correct my self. Webber has a three grid penalty, so his best position would be 4th on the grid if he gets pole.

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