Italian GP Free Practice 3: Hamilton and Alonso very close

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the third free practice session of the Formula 1 Italian GP in Monza. The Englishman lapped in 1.24.578, trailing Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) by just one thousandth. Third time for Paul di Resta with Force India. Felipe Massa also did well in the other Ferrari, fourth at 3 tenths. Followed by Jenson Button (McLaren Mercedes) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes).

All the drivers immediately entered the track at the start of the session for the first installation laps. After the first 15 minutes Kimi Raikkonen took the lead in the Lotus, immediately overtaken by Perez. The Mexican was overtaken by Hamilton a few minutes later but shortly after regained the lead.
Hamilton responded with 1.24.687 and Button then came in half a second behind him. The two Ferraris entered the track together after the first 25 minutes. Massa and Alonso were in 12th and 13th place after the first half hour of practice.

Meanwhile, behind the two McLarens were Maldonado, Perez, Senna, Vettel, Di Resta and Ricciardo. All the riders used hard Pirelli tires in the early stages of the session.

More technical problems for Schumacher, this time at KERS, not available on his car for the entire session.

Nico Rosberg was the first to mount Pirelli medium tyres, imitated by Schumacher. Massa then moved up to fourth place while Alonso moved up to second behind Hamilton. The Ferrari drivers also carried out some slipstream tests and on the next lap Alonso took the lead with 1.24.632.

Rosberg reduced Alonso's delay to 4 tenths with medium tyres, moving into third place. With 15 minutes to go Vettel moved up to seventh place.
In the last ten minutes most of the riders were on medium tyres. Button moved into third place, overtaken shortly afterwards by Di Resta. Alonso improved his time on the second timed lap with the medium set: 1.24.576. Hamilton, however, did better, 1.24.578, overtaking the Spaniard by just one thousandth while Massa moved into fourth position.

Two minutes from the end Vettel stopped at the Variante della Roggia due to an electrical problem.

Hamilton therefore finished with the best time ahead of Alonso, Di Resta, Massa, Button, Rosberg, Perez, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg and Maldonado. 11th and 12th position for the two Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel, ahead of Senna's Williams and Schumacher's Mercedes.

Di Resta will suffer a five-place grid penalty for replacing the gearbox early.

F1 Italian GP 2012 Monza – Free Practice Results 3

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.578s 18 2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.579s + 0.001s 15 3. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m24.849s + 0.271s 20 4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.909s + 0.331s 16 5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.994s + 0.416s 17 6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.036s + 0.458s 22 7. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.160s + 0.582s 23 8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m25.255s + 0.677s 19 9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m25.289s + 0.711s 20 10. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m25.383s + 0.805s 18 11. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m25.389. 0.811s + 21s 12 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 25.406m0.828s + 17s 13 1. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 25.461m0.883s + 21s 14 1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 25.563m0.985s + 23s 15 1. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 25.689m1.111s + 22s 16 1. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 25.706m1.128s + 16s 17 1. Jerome d'Ambrosio Lotus-Renault 25.973m1.395s + 20s 18 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso- Ferrari 26.003m1.425s + 19s 19 1. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 26.657m2.079s + 18s 20 1. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 27.267m2.689s + 16s 21 1. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 27.454m2.876s + 20. 22s 1 27.728. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 3.150m19s + 23s 1 28.035. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 3.457m23s + 24s 1 28.384. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 3.806m17s + XNUMXs XNUMX