Chinese GP: Free Practice 3 – Vettel Still Ahead
The third practice session took place this morning, and it was Sebastian Vettel who set the fastest time, as he did twice on Friday. The reigning world champion seems invincible in the quest for pole position.
The third practice session did not see any major incidents disrupt its proceedings, but some teams experienced a few technical issues.
The first half-hour of the session saw most teams running on hard tires, setting the initial lap times, with Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull as the benchmark time, while his teammate, Mark Webber, only completed an installation lap due to KERS issues.
The Mercedes then moved up the hierarchy by using the soft tires, quickly joined by the McLaren, Ferrari, and Renault drivers, before the young German clocked a time under 1’35. At the back of the grid, the HRT drivers did not repeat their Friday performance and recorded the 23rd and 24th fastest times of the session.
Results of Free Practice 3 – 2011 Chinese Grand Prix:
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
1 | Vettel | Red Bull | 1’34’968 | 13 | |
2 | Button | McLaren | 1’35’176 | +0.208 | 15 |
3 | Hamilton | McLaren | 1’35’373 | +0.405 | 14 |
4 | Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1’35’677 | +0.709 | 18 |
5 | Alonso | Ferrari | 1’35’818 | +0.850 | 17 |
6 | Massa | Ferrari | 1’35’971 | +1.003 | 15 |
7 | Petrov | Lotus Renault GP | 1’36’098 | +1.130 | 18 |
8 | Sutil | Force India | 1’36’125 | +1.157 | 15 |
9 | Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1’36’141 | +1.173 | 14 |
10 | di Resta | Force India | 1’36’370 | +1.402 | 18 |
11 | Heidfeld | Lotus Renault GP | 1’36’404 | +1.436 | 16 |
12 | Kobayashi | BMW-Sauber | 1’36’582 | +1.614 | 18 |
13 | Perez | BMW-Sauber | 1’36’596 | +1.628 | 17 |
14 | Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1’36’717 | +1.749 | 16 |
15 | Webber | Red Bull | 1’36’896 | +1.928 | 5 |
16 | Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1’36’953 | +1.985 | 14 |
17 | Barrichello | Williams | 1’37’007 | +2.039 | 20 |
18 | Maldonado | Williams | 1’37’304 | +2.336 | 18 |
19 | Kovalainen | Lotus | 1’38’176 | +3.208 | 12 |
20 | Trulli | Lotus | 1’38’739 | +3.771 | 12 |
21 | Glock | Virgin | 1’39’938 | +4.970 | 17 |
22 | D’Ambrosio | Virgin | 1’39’998 | +5.030 | 16 |
23 | Liuzzi | HRT | 1’40’593 | +5.625 | 17 |
24 | Karthikeyan | HRT | 1’40’881 | +5.913 | 18 |
