Free Practice 3: Red Bull takes the upper hand over McLaren thanks to Webber

Mark Webber succeeded in putting Red Bull in the spotlight by recording the fastest time in the final Chinese practice sessions at the Shanghai track. The Red Bull driver achieved a lap time of 1:35.323, beating Lewis Hamilton’s reference time by more than two-tenths of a second. The Australian has therefore taken a serious advantage just hours before the qualifications.

However, Webber was unable to match the time set by Hamilton yesterday during the second free practice. The Briton is still a tenth faster. The winner of the Malaysian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel, finished third in the second Red Bull. The German is just ahead of the reigning world champion Jenson Button. McLaren and Red Bull will therefore engage in a fierce battle for the pole position.

Fernando Alonso enters the top 5 with his Ferrari, but the Spaniard was already half a second off the pace set by Webber. His teammate Felipe Massa, for his part, had a more difficult morning and finished ninth after a small off-track excursion on his last run. He is positioned behind the two Mercedes drivers, with Nico Rosberg still ahead of Michael Schumacher and Kubica’s Renault.

The tests were interrupted by a red flag for 17 minutes to attend to Vitaly Petrov’s Renault, which had crashed at the beginning of the straight. One of the 2010 recruits lost control of his car. He hit the barriers and severely damaged the front end of the R30.

Although he was not injured, the race director decided to stop the testing to clear the debris. The session restarted with only 10 minutes remaining. The session began quietly as all the drivers were back in their pits after their installation laps. Ten minutes later, Webber was the only man not to have left the pits. The Australian finally hit the track after more than 15 minutes of the session.

Petrov was the first driver to complete a timed lap after more than 14 minutes. His reference time was 1:44.200, which was improved by Timo Glock in the Virgin.

The current championship leader Massa, followed by his teammate Alonso, then took the first positions after 20 minutes. Then, it was Hamilton’s turn to surpass the Ferrari duo before Webber achieved a very impressive 1:36.300 to put Red Bull in the lead.

Hamilton, the fastest yesterday, was the only man to break into the 1.35s before the half-hour mark, with a lap that was about half a second slower than his Friday time. Webber finally achieved his best time of the weekend to reduce the gap to three tenths with the McLaren driver.

There was no change at the top of the hierarchy until the final rush with soft tires began after the red flag. Alonso moved up to second place before being downgraded to fourth with the improved pace of the Red Bulls.

It’s Kamui Kobayashi who makes an appearance in the top 10. He is ahead of the Toro Rosso and Force India cars, each separated (Jaime Alguersuari, then Tonio Liuzzi, then Sébastien Buemi, and finally Adrian Sutil). Petrov is still 15th. The Williams drivers surround Pedro de la Rosa in the Sauber in 17th position. The Virgin, Lotus, and Hispania cars are at the back of the field.

Free Practice 3 Results – Chinese GP – Saturday, April 17, 2010: