GP Canada, Free Practice 3: Vettel beats Alonso by 6 thousandths

Great emotions in FP3 of the Canadian GP: Sebastian Vettel gets the best time, but Fernando Alonso follows him with an infinitesimal gap. Hamilton third ahead of Webber, Massa 6th.

The third free practice session in Montreal showed great balance on the track and an excellent show, with constant changes at the top of the timesheets. The tests could be divided into two moments: the first, when the majority of the drivers mounted Soft tyres, saw Vettel excel ahead of Lewis Hamilton, beaten by just one thousandth, and Alonso, just two and a half hundredths behind the pair of head. With a quarter of an hour to go the Ferraris put on the Supersoft tires and the difference was visible: the Ferrari Spaniard lapped in 1'14"448, barely beaten by Vettel, who achieved a 1'14"442 substantially identical to that of the Red. The world champion demonstrated that Red Bull is at the top, but the Cavallino also does not give up, like McLaren. Hamilton finished 0"270 behind the German (but was on Soft tyres), while an excellent performance for Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, who closed 12 thousandths behind the Englishman. Same thousandths of a gap also between Pastor Maldonado, fifth with his Williams at 0"313, and Felipe Massa with the second Ferrari. However, the Brazilian still pays something compared to his teammate.

Seventh and eighth place for Michael Schumacher with Mercedes and Romain Grosjean with Lotus: the two finished 354 and 431 thousandths respectively from the top but ran with Supersoft tires in the central part of FP3. Ninth place for the other Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen at 535 thousandths, while the Top Ten is closed by Nico Hulkenberg's Force India, which confirmed itself in very good form on the Montreal track and threatened the Finn at just 15 thousandths. Among other things, Hulkenberg excluded his teammate Paul Di Resta from the top ten, who was constantly among the leaders for a good part of the session. Jenson Button was disappointed with the day, 15th, 885 thousandths behind Red Bull number 1. The Englishman from McLaren paid for the time he lost yesterday in the pits due to a gearbox failure. Instead, Nico Rosberg's Free Practice lasted a few metres: the German was forced to park his Mercedes at Turn 7 shortly after leaving the pits, due to the clutch slipping. No time for him nor for Jean-Eric Vergne, who overshot and hit the tires at Turn 1. No damage to the driver, but the session was compromised. The appointment is now for Qualifying.

Lorena Bianchi

Here are the FP3 times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m14.442 22 2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.448s + 0.006 17 3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m14.712s + 0.270 19 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m14.724 .0.282s + 21 5 1. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 14.755m0.313s + 22 6 1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 14.767m0.325s + 21 7 1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 14.796m0.354s + 19 8 1. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 14.873m0.431 20s + 9 1 14.977. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 0.535m21s + 10 1 14.992. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 0.550m22s + 11 1 15.067. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 0.625m19s + 12 1 15.112. Sergio Perez Sauber -Ferrari 0.670m21s + 13 1 15.126. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 0.684m24s + 14 1 15.237. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 0.795m22s + 15 1 15.327. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 0.885m22s + 16 1 15.498 1.056. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 19m17s + 1 16.268 1.826. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 24m18s + 1 16.545 2.103. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 20m19s + 1 17.705 3.263. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 21m20 1s+ 17.974 3.532 23. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 21m1s + 18.189 3.747 21. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 22m1s + 18.684 4.242 23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 23m3s + 24 1 XNUMX. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso - Ferrari no time XNUMX XNUMX. Nico Rosberg Mercedes no time XNUMX