Jenson Button was quickest in the final practice session as he appears to have made progress with his McLaren.
The Lotus pair were second and third fastest as traffic prevented several drivers from improving at the end of the session.
The Lotus drivers were first onto track in warmed conditions than had greeted the drivers on Friday. Track temperature reached 38C by the end of the session.
Kimi Raikkonen led Romain Grosjean by just under three tenths of a second to begin with.
They were then beaten by Lewis Hamilton, who edged Raikkonen’s mark by the slender margin of three-thousandths of a second. Next to take over at the top was Pastor Maldonado, who beat Hamilton’s time by three-hundredths.
Ferrari and Red Bull had a quiet start to the session but now they showed their hand. Sebastian Vettel’s second quick lap was just six-hundredths slower than Maldonado’s – but that left him fourth. On his next run he went fastest, putting three-tenths of a second between him and the Williams.
But team mate Mark Webber hit trouble – having set a time of 1’41.282 he returned to the pits and did not re-appear, a brake problem limiting him to just four laps.
Grosjean was the first to try the soft tyres, and despite running slightly wide at turn 17 a 1’38.655 was enough to put him comfortably fastest.
Raikkonen fell short in his bid to beat his team mate’s time when he tried the soft tyres a quarter of an hour later, crossing the line a tenth of a second slower than Grosjean. It was Button who finally demoted the Lotus with five minutes remaining.
But their rivals struggled to find space on a congested track in the closing minutes. Vettel had to abort his last run but was advised to find clear air to set some quick sector times on his in-lap. This he did, topping the times in the first and second sectors before returning to the pits.
The Force Indias repeated their pace from Friday, Nico Hulkenberg leading Paul di Resta in fourth and fifth places.
Pedro de la Rosa lost control of his HRT again but didn’t hit anything this time – spinning to a stop at the final corner.
Sector times and ultimate laps
Here are the drivers’ theoretical best lap times based on their fastest sectors:
| Car | Driver | Car | Sector 1 | Sector 2 | Sector 3 | Ultimate lap | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 26.054 | 44.719 | 27.789 | 1’38.562 | |
| 2 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 25.940 | 44.691 | 27.985 | 1’38.616 | 0.054 |
| 3 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 25.988 | 44.765 | 27.902 | 1’38.655 | 0.093 |
| 4 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 26.240 | 44.793 | 27.664 | 1’38.697 | 0.135 |
| 5 | 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 26.126 | 44.785 | 27.848 | 1’38.759 | 0.197 |
| 6 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 26.113 | 44.765 | 27.907 | 1’38.785 | 0.223 |
| 7 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 26.216 | 44.940 | 27.917 | 1’39.073 | 0.511 |
| 8 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 26.105 | 45.110 | 27.869 | 1’39.084 | 0.522 |
| 9 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 26.193 | 44.974 | 28.011 | 1’39.178 | 0.616 |
| 10 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 26.192 | 44.961 | 28.062 | 1’39.215 | 0.653 |
| 11 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 26.265 | 44.887 | 28.123 | 1’39.275 | 0.713 |
| 12 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 26.157 | 45.288 | 27.884 | 1’39.329 | 0.767 |
| 13 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 26.230 | 45.161 | 27.966 | 1’39.357 | 0.795 |
| 14 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 26.263 | 45.112 | 28.005 | 1’39.380 | 0.818 |
| 15 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 26.287 | 45.308 | 27.948 | 1’39.543 | 0.981 |
| 16 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 26.519 | 45.159 | 28.172 | 1’39.850 | 1.288 |
| 17 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 26.603 | 45.181 | 28.174 | 1’39.958 | 1.396 |
| 18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 26.664 | 45.516 | 28.501 | 1’40.681 | 2.119 |
| 19 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 26.618 | 45.779 | 28.628 | 1’41.025 | 2.463 |
| 20 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 27.304 | 45.621 | 28.357 | 1’41.282 | 2.720 |
| 21 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 27.132 | 46.545 | 29.081 | 1’42.758 | 4.196 |
| 22 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 27.255 | 46.671 | 28.889 | 1’42.815 | 4.253 |
| 23 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 27.182 | 46.801 | 28.960 | 1’42.943 | 4.381 |
| 24 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 27.208 | 46.896 | 29.020 | 1’43.124 | 4.562 |
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
| 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’40.994 | 1’39.990 | 1’38.562 | -1.428 | 69 |
| 2 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’41.784 | 1’39.868 | 1’38.655 | -1.213 | 66 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’41.620 | 1’39.945 | 1’38.759 | -1.186 | 74 |
| 4 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’39.465 | 1’38.819 | -0.646 | 49 | |
| 5 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’41.105 | 1’39.700 | 1’38.892 | -0.808 | 64 |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.861 | 1’40.511 | 1’39.084 | -1.427 | 65 |
| 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’41.117 | 1’39.601 | 1’39.141 | -0.46 | 64 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’41.158 | 1’40.147 | 1’39.178 | -0.969 | 60 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’42.109 | 1’40.244 | 1’39.318 | -0.926 | 70 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’40.973 | 1’39.334 | 1’39.434 | +0.1 | 67 |
| 11 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’40.890 | 1’40.075 | 1’39.357 | -0.718 | 69 |
| 12 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.838 | 1’39.595 | 1’39.358 | -0.237 | 58 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’41.065 | 1’39.733 | 1’39.395 | -0.338 | 75 |
| 14 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1’39.644 | 1’39.543 | -0.101 | 47 | |
| 15 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’40.984 | 1’39.901 | 1’41.282 | +1.381 | 53 |
| 16 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’41.182 | 1’39.926 | 1’39.946 | +0.02 | 73 |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’42.758 | 1’41.263 | 1’40.037 | -1.226 | 73 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’42.777 | 1’41.121 | 1’40.134 | -0.987 | 80 |
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1’42.442 | 1’41.197 | 1’40.681 | -0.516 | 79 |
| 20 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1’43.209 | 1’40.963 | 1’41.931 | +0.968 | 54 |
| 21 | Jules Bianchi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’42.175 | 21 | |||
| 22 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’42.299 | 24 | |||
| 23 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’45.338 | 1’42.424 | 1’43.124 | +0.7 | 44 |
| 24 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1’44.996 | 1’44.260 | 1’42.758 | -1.502 | 41 |
| 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’44.147 | 1’42.958 | 1’42.815 | -0.143 | 63 |
| 26 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1’45.120 | 1’44.201 | 1’42.943 | -1.258 | 70 |
2012 European Grand Prix
- Alonso is 2012’s eighth Driver of the Weekend winner
- European Grand Prix rated best race of 2012 so far
- Top ten pictures from the European Grand Prix
- Vote for your European GP Driver of the Weekend
- Schumacher is oldest driver on podium since 1970
Image ?é?® McLaren/Hoch Zwei
sandy (@sandy)
23rd June 2012, 11:16
lotus pace was pretty impressive..grosjean’s lap was earlier in the session and raikkonen’s lap was in a 7 lap stint
Funkyf1 (@funkyf1)
23rd June 2012, 11:39
Grosjean messed up S3, Kimi messed up S1….hopefully they have more in the bag
usukpam (@usukpam)
23rd June 2012, 11:24
Was Lewis that slow or did he run into trafic ?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
23rd June 2012, 11:29
@usukpam I don’t believe he’s suddenly six tenths of a second slower than Button. Looks like there was quite a bit of radio chatter about traffic near him, so that’s my guess.
Oople
23rd June 2012, 11:30
Many are saying he was on a different program… Which makes sense, given the stints he was doing.
So don’t look too deeply into him being eighth ^_^
Young
23rd June 2012, 12:20
He actually eased off in the middle after one too many vehicles got in the way. So the team at least have done their homework last night since they are faster in this session.
LexBlair (@lexblair)
23rd June 2012, 11:51
it seems as if Button´s mojo is back.. :)he has done a pretty good job in all 3 practice sessions… i don´t wanna jinx it, but lets hope he is finally recovering from his recent slumps..
Eric Morman (@lethalnz)
23rd June 2012, 12:03
Jensen is now running a very similar set-up to Lewis and gone away from what he was trying to achieve by himself.
so i would put my money on Hamilton to come through when it counts..
Carl Craven
23rd June 2012, 12:46
Usually Lewis has the qualification and Button the race pace. Although Lewis’s race craft has improved a lot this season, so maybe he could do a Button on Button.
Pedro Costa (@pnunocosta)
23rd June 2012, 11:52
I would definitely put my money on Vettel for pole and if the Lotus qualify on the front 2 rows they might give him an hard time. Mclaren will qualify well but some doubts about long run pace. What about Ferrari, as it looks they took a big slump in performance especially in the softer tyres!?
Eggry (@eggry)
23rd June 2012, 11:52
It should be insane qualifying!!
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
23rd June 2012, 12:02
I think the reason Valencia is so difficult to predict is that in the past, it has been very predictable. It’s hard to find a balance between what we’d usually expect from Valencia, which is a very processional race after qualifying, and then whether that will be different considering how we’ve seen cars with better race pace coming through, despite having a bad qualifying.
I think it will be Vettel and the two Lotuses near the front, with Webber just behind them. But behind them, it will be hard to decide whether Alonso can do well, if McLaren’s race pace will be enough to keep them ahead (considering their qualifying will probably get them in the top 10), and whether the Force Indias will qualify well enough to compliment their obviously good race pace.
Could we be in for an exciting European GP?
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
23rd June 2012, 12:44
Brilliant to see Button on top, hope he can remain competitive for the rest of the weekend. Strongest showing from Lotus yet, this is perhaps their best chance this season after Bahrain. Good to see FI up there too, a podium for them would be cool.