Vettel edges Alonso in final practice in Montreal

2012 Canadian Grand Prix third practice

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Sebastian Vettel ended the final practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix with the fastest time.

But there was very little between him and Fernando Alonso – Vettel was just 0.006s faster than the Ferrari driver.

Lewis Hamilton, who was quickest in both sessions on Friday, ended the final hour of practice in third place.

Nico Rosberg’s session was over before he had completed a single lap. He told the team the car felt strange when he did his first practice start, and came to a halt at turn seven on his installation lap.

He wasn’t the only driver who failed to get a lap in. Jean-Eric Vergne ran onto the grass at the exit of turn one at the start of his first time lap and skidded into the barriers.

Jenson Button joined the track early, needing to make up time after technical problems limited his running on Friday.

Vettel led the running to begin with on soft tyres, before his best time was beaten by Alonso. Hamilton was not far behind the Ferrari driver on the track, and edged Alonso’s mark by 0.025s.

With a quarter of an hour to go Vettel found more time on the softs, beating Hamilton’s mark by a thousandth of a second.

Alonso was the first of the three onto the super-soft tyres and went fastest with a 1’14.448 on his first effort.

Vettel edged his time by six-thousandths of a second with his best effort, aided by a tow from Schuamcher’s Mercedes. Hamilton also took to the track on super-soft tyres but did not improve his time.

Mark Webber was fourth-fastest ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher.

Romain Grosjean led the Lotus pair with Kimi Raikkonen under investigation for cutting across the final corner on his way into the pits.

Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten for Force India. Team mate Paul di Resta was 11th, and unhappy at being held up by Button. The McLaren driver ended the session 15th.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’14.442 22
2 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’14.448 0.006 17
3 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1’14.712 0.270 22
4 2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1’14.724 0.282 21
5 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1’14.755 0.313 22
6 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’14.767 0.325 21
7 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1’14.796 0.354 19
8 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1’14.873 0.431 20
9 9 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1’14.977 0.535 21
10 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’14.992 0.550 22
11 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1’15.067 0.625 19
12 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1’15.112 0.670 21
13 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1’15.126 0.684 24
14 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1’15.237 0.795 22
15 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’15.327 0.885 19
16 16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’15.498 1.056 19
17 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1’16.268 1.826 24
18 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1’16.545 2.103 20
19 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1’17.705 3.263 21
20 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1’17.974 3.532 23
23 17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time
24 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes No time

Complete session times

Pos Driver Car FP1 FP2 FP3 Fri/Sat diff Total laps
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’15.682 1’15.531 1’14.442 -1.089 95
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’15.842 1’15.313 1’14.448 -0.865 87
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1’15.564 1’15.259 1’14.712 -0.547 95
4 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1’15.897 1’15.907 1’14.724 -1.173 90
5 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1’16.859 1’15.987 1’14.755 -1.232 87
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’16.619 1’15.410 1’14.767 -0.643 77
7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1’16.264 1’15.697 1’14.796 -0.901 79
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1’16.890 1’16.360 1’14.873 -1.487 85
9 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1’17.014 1’16.562 1’14.977 -1.585 96
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1’15.986 1’15.799 1’14.992 -0.807 90
11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1’16.460 1’15.544 1’15.067 -0.477 83
12 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1’16.249 1’15.898 1’15.112 -0.786 91
13 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1’16.000 1’15.651 1’15.126 -0.525 92
14 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1’18.762 1’17.022 1’15.237 -1.785 80
15 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’16.347 1’15.812 1’15.327 -0.485 45
16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’17.580 1’17.716 1’15.498 -2.082 84
17 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’15.782 1’15.878
18 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1’17.935 1’17.075 1’16.268 -0.807 88
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1’18.177 1’16.981 1’16.545 -0.436 60
20 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’17.352 1’17.124
21 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1’18.182 1’18.908 1’17.705 -0.477 74
22 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1’20.004 1’19.084 1’17.974 -1.11 84
23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1’19.354 1’19.378 1’18.189 -1.165 65
24 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1’20.087 1’19.902 1’18.684 -1.218 64

2012 Canadian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    40 comments on “Vettel edges Alonso in final practice in Montreal”

    1. Jon (@patomilan)
      9th June 2012, 16:11

      Wow! Thats a close field1 second within all teams except for Caterham, Marussian and HRT ofcourse.

      1. HRT seem to be improving though… don´t they?

        1. Perhaps the whole DLR being on top of the Speed Trap before wasn’t COMPLETELY down to Slipstream, by the looks of them now.

          Perhaps their efforts have been primarily on Straight Line Speed improvements.

          1. That being said, being at the TOP is still a complete blunder :P

        2. Looks like their skinny wing/low downforce trim is helping them get in front of Virgin at least @bobo

          1. So it seems @bascb. Many ‘commenters’ expect it to be a one-off, I’m not so sure… first I need to see if they can actually do better in the race, then we can talk about other races. I like HRT but I think they have a very long road ahead of them and just seeing some improvement is an improvement.

    2. Red Bull look very strong, at least in Vettel’s hands, but I think Alonso will win this weekend, because that Ferrari is improving by miles every race!

    3. It was at this race last year that HRT earned the position they needed to beat Virgin in the standings. It’s looking like they might be about to have another good race.

    4. Does Rosberg need a new gearbox?

    5. So RBR have to mod the car again, this time wheelhub… see autosport

      http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100230

      As I said before this kind of thing happens all the time, it is just the media is picking up on it at the moment.

      Not hurting their pace, although when the times are this close it might over the whole course of the weekend.

      1. I just don’t understand how only after several races they have to change the pieces that don’t comply with the rules! FIA should be more rigorous with the scrutineering.
        Besides red bull doesn’t seem to be playing fair, just too many issues.

        1. or people are nitpicking them because they are the reigning champions and not their favourite team

          1. To be fair, as I have said many times over the last week, it’s not just RBR, its just the media picking up of the current RBR issues.
            Others have had to do the same in the past for different reasons, and for all we know this season as well. It is normally resolved outside the spot light of the media behind closed doors.

      2. It just keeps amazing me what these teams come up with @bbt, I am curious how many of those kind of clever things are there on the different cars in the field!

        1. No, @bascb, they’re only on Red Bull’s car! Those cheating cheaters, always trying to get away with something clever. All the other teams are like, “No! Some might interpret this as a loophole/gray area in the rules that could be exploited, but it just doesn’t seem sporting, old chap! None of that nonsense for us!”

          1. exactly until the point comes where they are being found out, they are @aka_robyn!

          2. Lol presumably, @aka_robyn. Maybe they just haven’t been found out yet :P I have to say, though, the FIA should get its act together. I appreciate the incredible challenges of all they must do, both before and during the season, but for these things to go unnoticed for six races…

            1. Haha damn you bascb, I should have refreshed before posting.

          3. Oh you, that made my day that comment, after reading your post my laptop started excreting sarcasm in liquid form.

            1. after reading your post my laptop started excreting sarcasm in liquid form.

              Then my work here is done… ;-)

        2. @bascb They are all up to the same games, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, or allude too.
          At the moment RBR seem to be getting caught out but others have in the past and some have seemed to be victimised by the FIA in the past, most notably Mclaren. When something happens / gets found out, people look for more and find more.
          Just like drivers on track behaviour, you get penalised once and before you know it you are under the spot light and seem to get penalised for everything. It all balances out in the end.
          I don’t consider RBR cheaters, you either push too limits or end up being a loser, sometimes it’s just the wrong side of the rules and you get caught sometimes you get away with it (for a while).

          1. exactly that @bbt!

            1. HRT could get away with almost anything, so long as they stay at the back of the field no-one cares.

    6. go hamilton go

    7. Considering the track, which always produce some spectacular races, and the close field, this should be a very special one.

      Qualy will be a treat! Can’t wait!

    8. wazzup with Button? strange stuff… this has been going on too long.

      1. lOLz, don’t begin with JB-debate now pleeeeeze! I have been enjoying the silence of his fans for some time now … :p

      2. It’s, perhaps, something similar to Hamilton last year, where the situation just isn’t going completely his way, and thus is losing his focus somewhat.

        Although, unlike Hamilton, the problem seems far more driving-caused for Button.

      3. He does seem to be struggling massively compared to Hamilton. The only weekend he seems to have bettered Hamilton was Melbourne and even then I don’t really think it was on outright pace. I just don’t think he is as comfortable in a slightly “lairy” car as Hamilton is.

      4. Massa rises and button falls, I wish Di resta gets his seat next year or even later this season a seat trade Button could Help Forcé India develop car and Di resta can get podiums consistently at Mclaren.
        Well maybe to early but can’t stand button complains as he is purely product of opportunism and shear luck !

        1. Ive always thought him to be a great talent, since his F1 debut. He is really very good. It seems he cant handle the tyres, something he is famous for being good at… and that HAM is faster was always obvious.

          1. Agree with that. Button is an amazingly good driver. I thought that from his debut. Talk of luck is wishful thinking, and plan wrong, if you have got the quality you make your own luck, in fact it’s not really luck at all.
            However in this field of drivers their are a few that are clear quicker than him and he is struggling more this season than ever before IMO.

            1. *plan = plain*

              Remember Button said, after testing, they have an upgrade for Australia that was more than bolting down-force on the car, well apparently that makes the feel of the car difficult and therefore the set-up difficult. It came together in Australia but they have struggled ever since especially with the other overtaking in having the fastest car and becoming more competitive.

    9. Tom (@newdecade)
      9th June 2012, 16:33

      Looks like we will see minimal running on the super softs on sunday. Did anyone do sufficient stints on those to see how long they will last? Not very would be my guess on this tarmac.

      1. They were lasting very well indeed.

    10. Webber for pole!

    11. So it seems will have a fratricide qualification between the top 3 of FP3 and a dark horse named rosberg. I’m still beting on lotus but only for the race, they will qualify in the bottom of the top 8.

    12. It’s going to be an interesting quali and race. Personally, I can see Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso fighting all weekend, and with their aggressive nature, I can also see Maldonado and Massa having a coming together.

    13. vettel was also over .1 seconds faster at sector 2 on another lap before being held up by backmarkers and was very quick on both tyres as was alonso. we didnt see is hamilton could go faster on red tyres, but assume he would have been .3 faster also, so its looking very close.
      i think rosberg would be fighting up their too, i dont think schumacher has what is takes, but maybe the mercedes drs will do the trick in qualifying.

    14. Vettel’s thrown a curve ball but I still think Hamilton and Mercedes will be the driver/team to beat. .2s is a reasonable gap but I expect Hamilton will pull something out in qualifying.

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