Vettel comfortably quickest in final practice

2013 German Grand Prix third practice

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Sebastian Vettel headed the times in the final practice session for the German Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver was over two-thirds of a second quicker than any other driver after the final 60 minutes of running.

He and team mate Mark Webber had been slowly-matched earlier in the proceedings while lapping on the medium tyres. But after switching to the soft tyres for the final run Webber improved his time by a second – less than most of the front-running drivers.

That put Webber 18 thousandths of a second behind Nico Rosberg, who had gained 1.4 seconds after putting the soft tyres on.

But Vettel characteristically left his final run until the dying moments and produced a 1’29.517 to put himself well clear of the chasing pack. As he returned to the pits he found even more time in the first sector.

The Ferrari pair were fourth and fifth, separated by less than two hundredths of a second. They demoted Romain Grosjean, who had been fourth before the final runs, the Lotus driver complaining about traffic after being released from the pits behind a Caterham.

Lewis Hamilton struggled throughout the session, complaining about instability at the rear end of his Merceded. He ended up 1.2 seconds off the pace.

The Williams drivers languished in 17th and 18th. Before the session began Williams had a scare when a KERS unit failed on Pastor Maldonado’s car while it was in the garage.

“The resulting smoke was contained quickly and efficiently by the team and circuit fire marshals,” said the team in a statement. “No personnel were injured.”

“The team are currently investigating the cause of the failure, and assessing any further damage to Pastor’s car.”

Jules Bianchi returned to action following his illness yesterday and ended the session 20th, over a second quicker than his team mate.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
11Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’29.51719
29Nico RosbergMercedes1’30.1930.67619
32Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’30.2110.69418
43Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’30.6211.10416
54Felipe MassaFerrari1’30.6391.12217
67Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’30.6711.15419
710Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’30.7441.22720
88Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’30.7811.26418
911Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’30.9661.44920
1015Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’31.0091.49218
115Jenson ButtonMcLaren1’31.3261.80922
1212Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’31.4051.88820
1314Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’31.7332.21621
1418Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’31.8552.33828
156Sergio PerezMcLaren1’31.8552.33823
1619Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’31.8982.38119
1716Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’31.9692.45220
1817Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’32.0362.51923
1920Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’33.2303.71319
2022Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’33.4703.95322
2121Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’33.9644.44721
2223Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’34.6835.16620

Combined practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’33.2131’30.4161’29.517-0.89978
2Nico RosbergMercedes1’31.9731’30.6511’30.193-0.45882
3Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’32.7891’30.6831’30.211-0.47281
4Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’31.0561’30.621-0.43557
5Felipe MassaFerrari1’33.0651’31.0591’30.639-0.4276
6Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’32.9561’30.8481’30.671-0.17768
7Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’31.7541’31.3041’30.744-0.5680
8Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’33.2601’30.8431’30.781-0.06277
9Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’33.8101’32.4951’30.966-1.52979
10Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’32.8221’31.8241’31.009-0.81568
11Jenson ButtonMcLaren1’33.1391’31.5681’31.326-0.24283
12Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’34.4371’32.7621’31.405-1.35788
13Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’33.4931’31.7971’31.733-0.06479
14Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’33.9011’31.8551’31.898+0.04384
15Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’33.9761’32.0551’31.855-0.293
16Sergio PerezMcLaren1’33.4561’32.0861’31.855-0.23177
17Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’34.0251’32.8801’31.969-0.91176
18Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’34.2001’32.8791’32.036-0.84380
19Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’35.6741’33.6951’33.230-0.46580
20Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’34.0171’33.470-0.54732
21Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’36.0781’33.8041’33.964+0.1684
22Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’35.9871’34.6671’34.683+0.01678
23Rodolfo GonzalezMarussia-Cosworth1’37.45921

2013 German Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    21 comments on “Vettel comfortably quickest in final practice”

    1. I hope that a volcano erupts nearby Nurburgring. Maybe that would warm up the circuit enough that Ferrari could finally get heat in the prime tyres.

      1. Lol I wish that would happen, but vettel sent message to Mecedes its going to be some battle for pole position.

    2. Insane lap from Vettel. Hope he’ll finally trumph in front of his home crowd.

    3. and that’s it ………pole,win,fastest lap-sebastian vettel!!!!!!!!!

      1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
        6th July 2013, 11:20

        don’t forget world championship :-) lol

        1. ahhhhhhh….. u got that one :D

      2. People were saying exactly the same thing about Lewis Hamilton after the first practice session …

    4. Man, it’s really hard to see past Vettel for predictions, but he usually sucks at the Nurburgring…

    5. Of course Vettel set the quickest time, the track would have been warm and rubbered in after every car except his driving on it for the the 10 mins prior. Credit to him, he has the ability to do that. RedBull, Merc, Ferrari, Lotus, Force India I’m predicting for top 10. It’s good to see the Saubers looking competitive, Mclaren, time for a re-structure, bring back Ron

    6. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      6th July 2013, 11:25

      Any link for the full stint times in p3? How is red bull’s race pace as compared to ferrari and lotus?

      1. Normally, teams simulate race pace in FP2, in FP3, they usually focus more on single run.

    7. Both Toro Rosso drivers and Sergio Perez have set the same best time so far – 1’31.855. Jerez ’97, anyone?

      1. It’s not mentioned in your article so I was probably misinformed, but I read that what happened in Jerez 1997 was because of a glitch in the time system. Is it true or not?

        1. If you call Bernie trying to create the most possible thrilling finale a “glitch in the system”, then … yes ;)

          That’s about the only rumor I heard about that.

          I’m still sad that, thanks to this sensation at the front, Damon never really got credit for a brillant, brillant qualifying lap that was even better than the one he sat in Hungary that year – 0.058s missing and he would’ve put that Arrows on pole.

          1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
            6th July 2013, 12:08

            +1 people think that Damon was a bad driver

            1. I would love to see how history would’ve unfolded if some things would have worked out a little different:

              – He had a real shot a the title in his first full season in 93 if it wasn’t for all the mechanical failures.
              – He could have been the champ in 94 without the broken wishbone.
              – If he had signed the McLaren contract for 97, he could have taken those 2 Häkkinen titles.
              – After all of the above, every team would have wanted him

              So, with a little more luck and few better business decisions, Damon could have been a 5+ times WDC.

    8. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
      6th July 2013, 11:27

      @gazz We’ll see; can’t wait to watch my BBC coverage with Suzi and Eddie and I love the fact that they have a half hour preview and 5 minutes after the race… oh wait… it isn’t live, does the program even last half an hour?, I think they have to get Bargain Hunt in… :-)

      1. @full-throttle-f1 Not sure who you’re replying to, I’ve only just noticed that we have to wait til 6 to see the quali highlights though, guess I’ll be in news avoidance mode for a few hours :(

        1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
          6th July 2013, 12:29

          I know that really annoys me. Can’t check the news for the next 5 and a bit hours lol

    9. It’s looking good for Sauber. They seem to be faster than Force India, Mclaren and Toro Rosso. Their long run pace yesterday was promising, too. I hope they’ll get a good result tomorrow, I feel they deserve it.

      1. Fingers crossed for an excellent result for Sauber and the Hulk….it would be great for them, esp given the team’s current financial difficulties…

    Comments are closed.