virgivaughn: Vettel on top by half a second in Korea | 2012 Korean Grand Prix third practice result

Vettel on top by half a second in Korea is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Sebastian Vettel was emphatically fastest in final practice for the Korean Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver ended the session over half a second ahead of the next-fastest car.

He and team mate Mark Webber took to the track earlier than their rivals and were immediately quick. Webber beat the best super-soft tyre time from Friday using soft tyres, lapping in 1’38.766.

McLaren and Ferrari didn’t send their cars out until the session was almost half-done. Fernando Alonso got within three-tenths of Webber.

McLaren showed better pace at this stage, Lewis Hamilton going quickest with a 1’38.464. But when Vettel returned to the circuit he quickly moved the benchmark further, lapping in 1’38.215.

Vettel increased his margin when the teams did their super-soft tyre runs. He set two laps quicker than anyone else could manage. His final effort of 1’37.642 was over half a second quicker than Hamilton’s best time on the softer rubber, and eight-tenths ahead of Jenson Button.

Webber was unable to set a time in the dying minutes as a technical problem kept him back in the pits.

The two Lotus drivers made gains on the super-soft tyres and completed the top five. Kimi Raikkonen, the only one running the team’s new Coanda exhaust, was slightly slower than Romain Grosjean.

Fernando Alonso was sixth for Ferrari, over a second off Vettel’s pace, with Felipe Massa eighth behind Webber. Pastor Maldonado and Nico Hulkenberg also made it into the top ten.

Traffic proved a problem again and as in the second practice session it was the HRTs bearing the brunt of the problems, Narain Karthikeyan complaining after being held up by Sergio Perez.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1’37.642		17
2	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1’38.199	0.557	12
3	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1’38.511	0.869	13
4	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1’38.582	0.940	16
5	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	1’38.666	1.024	18
6	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’38.705	1.063	12
7	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1’38.766	1.124	7
8	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’38.791	1.149	13
9	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1’38.833	1.191	16
10	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1’38.932	1.290	17
11	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1’38.954	1.312	17
12	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’39.010	1.368	20
13	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1’39.150	1.508	18
14	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1’39.156	1.514	18
15	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1’39.345	1.703	14
16	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’39.448	1.806	17
17	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’39.537	1.895	18
18	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1’39.706	2.064	18
19	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1’41.114	3.472	14
20	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1’41.437	3.795	19
21	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1’41.684	4.042	16
22	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1’42.062	4.420	15
23	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1’42.845	5.203	15
24	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1’42.882	5.240	14

Combined practice times

Pos	Driver	Car	FP1	FP2	FP3	Fri/Sat diff	Total laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1’40.088	1’38.832	1’37.642	-1.19	71
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1’39.148	1’39.717	1’38.199	-0.949	60
3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1’40.480	1’39.219	1’38.511	-0.708	63
4	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1’40.422	1’39.957	1’38.582	-1.375	66
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	1’40.929	1’39.839	1’38.666	-1.173	58
6	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’39.450	1’39.160	1’38.705	-0.455	61
7	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1’39.575	1’38.864	1’38.766	-0.098	61
8	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’39.854	1’39.422	1’38.791	-0.631	66
9	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1’41.048	1’41.200	1’38.833	-2.215	74
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes		1’39.739	1’38.932	-0.807	50
11	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1’41.514	1’40.745	1’38.954	-1.791	48
12	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’40.396	1’39.584	1’39.010	-0.574	80
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1’40.221	1’39.330	1’39.150	-0.18	70
14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1’40.440	1’40.112	1’39.156	-0.956	71
15	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1’41.220	1’40.445	1’39.345	-1.1	61
16	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’42.021	1’40.789	1’39.448	-1.341	73
17	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’41.596	1’40.997	1’39.537	-1.46	73
18	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault		1’40.089	1’39.706	-0.383	50
19	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault		1’43.067	1’41.114	-1.953	36
20	Jules Bianchi	Force India-Mercedes	1’41.140				21
21	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1’42.104	1’41.602	1’41.437	-0.165	66
22	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1’42.708	1’43.066	1’41.684	-1.024	59
23	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	1’42.027				23
24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1’42.175	1’42.596	1’42.062	-0.113	56
25	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	1’42.820				19
26	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth		1’43.869	1’42.845	-1.024	51
27	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1’44.517	1’44.533	1’42.882	-1.635	61
28	Dani Clos	HRT-Cosworth	1’45.735				22

2012 Korean Grand Prix

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Vettel on top by half a second in Korea is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.