Webber on top as Vettel hits trouble

2013 Japanese Grand Prix third practice

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Mark Webber was quickest in the final practice session for Red Bull, a tenth of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton.

However Sebastian Vettel was unable to complete a qualifying simulation on the softer medium tyres at the end of the session due to a KERS problem on his car.

The two Mercedes drivers were next-quickest, Hamilton beating Webber’s first sector time with his final run.

Romain Grosjean was fourth despite having done his medium-tyre lap earlier in the session. Lotus pursued a different arrangement for practice with Kimi Raikkonen doing high-fuel running at the end of practice having been unable to do so yesterday.

The Ferraris were fifth and sixth with Jenson Button’s McLaren almost matching their pace on the medium tyre.

Adrian Sutil was the latest driver to fall victim to the demanding Suzuka course. The Force India driver lost control of his car at the exit of Spoon Curve and knocked his front nose off on the barrier at the inside of the corner.

That bend posed problems for several drivers including both the Ferrari pilots who were visibly struggling with oversteer at the exit. A change in wind direction meant drivers now had a tailwind to contend with there and on the pit straight.

Lap times improved by almost two seconds compared with yesterday. Hamilton noted during the session the track was now offering “more grip”.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
12Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’32.0538
210Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’32.1870.13418
39Nico RosbergMercedes1’32.3550.30218
48Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’32.7070.65426
53Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’32.8000.74714
64Felipe MassaFerrari1’32.8150.76214
75Jenson ButtonMcLaren1’32.8690.81617
87Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’32.9460.89325
91Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’33.0360.98317
1011Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’33.0761.02312
116Sergio PerezMcLaren1’33.1581.10515
1218Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’33.2601.20715
1319Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’33.4901.43716
1416Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’33.6381.58517
1514Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’33.6601.60719
1612Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’33.7321.67915
1717Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’33.9551.90218
1815Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’34.7732.7208
1921Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’35.4733.42020
2020Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’35.5183.46518
2123Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’35.8443.79116
2222Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’39.3787.32520

Complete practice times

PosDriverCarFP1FP2FP3Fri/Sat diffTotal laps
1Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’34.7871’34.0201’32.053-1.96763
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’34.1571’34.4421’32.187-1.9773
3Nico RosbergMercedes1’34.4871’34.1141’32.355-1.75973
4Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’35.1791’34.4111’32.707-1.70471
5Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’35.1541’35.0871’32.800-2.28762
6Felipe MassaFerrari1’35.1261’34.6981’32.815-1.88363
7Jenson ButtonMcLaren1’35.8681’34.9121’32.869-2.04373
8Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’35.3641’34.2021’32.946-1.25659
9Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’34.7681’33.8521’33.036-0.81676
10Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’35.9001’35.1821’33.076-2.10664
11Sergio PerezMcLaren1’35.4501’35.7091’33.158-2.29250
12Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’36.0661’35.1091’33.260-1.84969
13Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’35.6351’34.4731’33.490-0.98365
14Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’36.1781’36.7221’33.638-2.5435
15Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’36.3991’35.2751’33.660-1.61572
16Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’36.7601’35.0891’33.732-1.35773
17Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’36.3401’36.1361’33.955-2.18182
18Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’36.1651’35.3411’34.773-0.56852
19Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’38.0251’37.9051’35.473-2.43271
20Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’37.6301’35.518-2.11249
21Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’38.7631’38.1211’35.844-2.27767
22Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1’37.59522
23Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’37.6291’39.378+1.74928

2013 Japanese Grand Prix

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Image © Red Bull/Getty

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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 “Webber on top as Vettel hits trouble”

  1. Hm, I still expect Vettel to get it on pole. But it could be tight with both his teammate pushing him and the Mercs (+Grosjean) being right on his heels today.

  2. Darn it. The guy suffers the failure at Practice. It must be bad for him, but I’d rather have him start 9th or something to make it interesting.

    Dammit faulty KERS. Couldn’t you just hang on until Q3 and then BANG?! jeez… some KERSes just want to see the world bored, huh? :P

    1. @fer-no65
      You should say these things more often :D

      1. @george I shooooooooooooould :D !

  3. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    12th October 2013, 4:12

    I really hope the Mercs can challenge the RBR’s both today and tomorrow.

    Not gonna hold my breath, but it is Suzuka and anything can happen.

  4. even if vettel gone pointless for the remaining races, he’ll still be champion.

    Ferrari’s pace is lagging behind MGP and maybe Lotus.

    1. Not so sure. If SV wouldn’t score in the 5 remaining races, FA would need 78 pts to win. That’s not out of the question, specially whitout SV taking away the big points. In the last five races FA got 5th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd and 6th, that is 72 pts, not enough. But SV was always on top (3rd, 1st, 1st,1st, 1st), hence FA would have hauled 97 pts (one 4th, three victories, one 5th), everything being the same except for SV not scoring. Plenty more than needed (say, four 3rds and one 2nd would be enough). For Lewis and Kimi it would be harder, Kimi would need three victories plus two 3rds (or one 2nd plus one 4th) or better, or 4 victories plus one 7th or better, or all 5 victories; Lewis would need 4 victories plus one 4th or better.

      In all probability SV is going to score lots of points in the the next races, so all this is moot. Getting the WDC tomorrow is not very likely for him, even with the victory; FA should be able to finish 8th or better. But I bet it all will be over in India.

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