GP Korea, Free Practice 3: best time for Kubica, then Hamilton and Alonso

Robert Kubica set the fastest time in the third and final free practice session of the Korean F1 GP. The Renault driver preceded Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) at the end of a frenetic session, with the drivers once again struggling with a gripless track.

Organizers modified the inside curbs at turns 16 and 18 to try and reduce some of the problems but there was little improvement.

At the start of the session the track seemed to have returned to the levels of Friday morning's free practice and this led to serious tire graining problems, even with the harder Bridgestone compound. Traffic will also likely prove a problem.

The Toro Rossos were the first cars to take to the track and remained in the lead until mid-session, that is, until the big names came into action.

Ferrari with Alonso and hard tires took the lead with 1.40.795 and shortly after Jenson Button did better than the Spaniard by just one thousandth. Alonso and Hamilton then improved their times, dropping to 1.39.705 and it immediately became clear that the track was improving with each passage of the cars.

With 10 minutes to go all the drivers had already completed the run on hard tires and returned to the pits to put on the softs. All 24 drivers then took to the track for qualifying simulations and both Hamilton and Alonso were affected by the traffic. The Spaniard almost made contact with Nico Rosberg and did not hesitate to show his disappointment to his colleague.

In the end it was Kubica who came out on top with a 1.37.354 ahead of Hamilton, Alonso and Mark Webber (Red Bull) while Sebastian Vettel was only 16th.

Rosberg is fifth ahead of Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Button (McLaren), Nico Hulkenberg (Williams) and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP). Adrian Sutil with Force India completes the top 10.

F1 GP Korea – Free Practice 3

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kubica Renault 1m37.354 15 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.402 + 0.048 16 3. Alonso Ferrari 1m37.426 + 0.072 15 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m37.441 + 0.087 13 5. Rosberg Mercedes 1m37.629 + 0.275 12 6. Massa Ferrari 1m37.955 + 0.601 16 7. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.419 + 1.065 15 8. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1m38.501 + 1.147 17 9. Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.630 + 1.276 12 10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m38.632 + 1.278 18 11. Petrov Renault 1m38.668 + 1.314 14 12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m38.733 + 1.379 16 13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.058 + 1.704 21 14 1. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 39.145m1.791 + 16 15 1. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 39.159m1.805 + 21 16 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 39.780m2.426 + 9 17 1. Heidfeld Sauber-Ferrari 40.289m2.935 + 17 18 1 41.591. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 4.237m15 + 19 1 41.623. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 4.269m15 + 20 1 41.853. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 4.499m17 + 21 1 42.095. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 4.741m19 + 22 1 43.111 di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 5.757m19 + 23 1 43.417. Senna HRT-Cosworth 6.063m19 + 24 1 43.880. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 6.526m20 + XNUMX XNUMX