Vettel heads final practice session

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Sebastian Vettel was fastest in third practice at the European Grand Prix.

He headed Robert Kubica and Mark Webber after a close final practice session in Valencia.

There were some surprising names towards the top of the times sheets with Adrian Sutil setting fourth-fastest time and Rubens Barrichello sixth for Williams.

Several drivers hit traffic at the end of the hour’s running. Among those who struggled to improve were the McLaren drivers who ended the session in ninth and tenth

But the MP4/25s had rarely looked like a match for the RB6s – now using their version of the F-duct – and the updated Ferraris.

Alonso was among the quickest runners while the drivers ran medium tyres early in the session. But he found little time when he switched to super-soft tyres at the end of practice.

It raises the prospect of a closely-fought qualifying session ahead of the European Grand Prix.

Pos. Car Driver Car Best lap Laps
1 5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’38.052 14
2 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1’38.154 0.102 17
3 6 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1’38.313 0.261 13
4 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1’38.500 0.448 17
5 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’38.513 0.461 18
6 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1’38.623 0.571 15
7 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1’38.676 0.624 17
8 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’38.686 0.634 16
9 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’38.769 0.717 16
10 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1’38.816 0.764 15
11 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’38.822 0.77 15
12 16 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’39.050 0.998 16
13 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1’39.105 1.053 15
14 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1’39.113 1.061 16
15 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1’39.222 1.17 14
16 17 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’39.392 1.34 18
17 23 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1’39.527 1.475 16
18 22 Pedro de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1’39.699 1.647 16
19 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1’41.303 3.251 19
20 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1’41.428 3.376 20
21 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1’41.955 3.903 17
22 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1’42.354 4.302 18
23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1’42.611 4.559 18
24 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1’42.622 4.57 19

Complete European Grand Prix practice times

Pos Driver Car FP1 FP2 FP3 Total laps
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’42.216 1’39.339 1’38.052 65
2 Robert Kubica Renault 1’41.715 1’39.880 1’38.154 65
3 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1’42.275 1’39.427 1’38.313 59
4 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1’40.020 1’38.500 47
5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’42.421 1’39.283 1’38.513 73
6 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1’42.463 1’40.174 1’38.623 69
7 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1’43.380 1’40.387 1’38.676 69
8 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’42.182 1’39.947 1’38.686 59
9 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’41.383 1’40.029 1’38.769 64
10 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1’41.339 1’39.749 1’38.816 58
11 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’41.175 1’39.650 1’38.822 53
12 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’43.310 1’41.115 1’39.050 74
13 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1’42.707 1’41.371 1’39.105 68
14 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1’42.962 1’40.618 1’39.113 62
15 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1’42.312 1’40.287 1’39.222 56
16 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’44.183 1’41.457 1’39.392 75
17 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1’43.729 1’40.906 1’39.527 71
18 Pedro de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1’43.397 1’40.945 1’39.699 67
19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1’44.491 1’42.467 1’41.303 71
20 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1’47.285 1’42.993 1’41.428 68
21 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1’45.653 1’43.811 1’41.955 54
22 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1’47.356 1’43.854 1’42.354 69
23 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1’47.123 1’44.095 1’42.611 59
24 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1’44.566 1’42.622 40
25 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1’43.437 18
26 Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth 1’47.343 14

2010 European Grand Prix

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    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    7 comments on “Vettel heads final practice session”

    1. Profile Photo

      BasCB (@bascb)
      26th June 2010, 11:18

      looks like Williams might be on to something with their improvements. Or the track is really good for Rubens again.

      At the back we see the familiar faces, almost 2 seconds between the new teams and Sauber.

      1. Profile Photo

        miguelF1O (@)
        26th June 2010, 11:26

        looks like yesterday only the new teams were running low fuel cause today there is a wider gap between them and the established ones yesterday fp1 kov finished 3 tenths off sauber i was quite surprised and he was a lot faster than trulli i think mark webber is still favourite for qualy hes hiding something my bet after this last session would be a bit different specially cause i thought the mclaren were going to be faster than they were i was putting hamilon 4th but now im not sure

    2. davey
      26th June 2010, 11:21

      force india and williams ahead of mclaren??? LOL. those sandbagging sob’s

      Hamilton was incredibly happy in the car all of Friday when he was lapping in 5th place on a full load of fuel…

      Talk about an easy pole…

      bets anyone? :)

      1. bosyber
        26th June 2010, 11:59

        That sounds maybe a bit ambitious, but McLaren do not really seem worried about their pace, so maybe they were holding back.

        Will be interesting to see if Ferrari manage to find some better pace on those softer tires in qualifying.

    3. SijS
      26th June 2010, 11:28

      Good work from FI and Rubens. Are FI running their SRW, they top speed traps as well!

    4. Petron@s
      26th June 2010, 11:56

      RS27 rules… TOP 3 !!!

      Renault is getting stronger…
      KUB in Quali: PP is avaiable ;))

    5. J
      26th June 2010, 12:27

      Looks like red bull has this one in the bag

    Comments are closed.