Sebastian Vettel led the times at the end of a close final practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Vettel produced a lap of 1’36.435 on medium tyres in the final minutes of practice. He stayed out for another run on the softer tyres and found more time in the first sector before the tyres began to drop off.
Second fastest was Lewis Hamilton who set his time several minutes earlier. He returned to the track for another run at the end of the session but picked up front-right tyre damage, the rubber breaking up as he returned to the garage.
Behind him Adrian Sutil and Mark Webber were covered by four-hundredths of a second. Paul di Resta backed up his team mate’s pace with the sixth-fastest time.
Kimi Raikkonen was fifth-quickest with a lap of 1’36.806, some eight tenths of a second fastest than his team mate. Romain Grosjean ended the session 14th but aborted his best lap when he understeered wide at turn eight when he caught a Caterham. He had been quick up to that point setting the fastest first sector time.
McLaren had an encouraging session with Jenson Button seventh-quickest, less than four tenths of a second off the pace. He also set the quickest time on hard tyres with a 1’37.521.
The Ferraris languished towards the bottom of the top ten with Felipe Massa half a second off Vettel’s time.
Pastor Maldonado was 11th for Williams despite a slide at turn four. Nico Hulkenberg ran a long stint on hard tyres during the session before a late switch to mediums moved him up to 12th.
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’37.104 | 1’36.588 | 1’36.435 | -0.153 | 68 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’37.840 | 1’37.574 | 1’36.568 | -1.006 | 67 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’37.003 | 1’36.569 | 1’36.806 | +0.237 | 62 |
| 4 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.769 | 1’37.788 | 1’36.588 | -1.181 | 46 |
| 5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’36.935 | 1’37.026 | 1’36.613 | -0.322 | 64 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’37.771 | 1’36.661 | 1’36.946 | +0.285 | 62 |
| 7 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.773 | 1’37.571 | 1’36.807 | -0.764 | 63 |
| 8 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’38.173 | 1’37.865 | 1’36.822 | -1.043 | 61 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’37.588 | 1’37.448 | 1’36.949 | -0.499 | 76 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’37.319 | 1’36.985 | 1’37.302 | +0.317 | 50 |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’37.915 | 1’37.206 | 1’37.690 | +0.484 | 57 |
| 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’38.673 | 1’38.801 | 1’37.359 | -1.314 | 54 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1’38.830 | 1’37.838 | 1’37.538 | -0.3 | 50 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’39.054 | 1’38.068 | 1’37.685 | -0.383 | 71 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1’39.208 | 1’39.660 | 1’37.936 | -1.272 | 63 |
| 16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’39.204 | 1’38.645 | 1’38.294 | -0.351 | 56 |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’39.284 | 1’38.738 | 1’38.376 | -0.362 | 64 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’39.567 | 1’38.904 | 1’38.425 | -0.479 | 62 |
| 19 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1’41.163 | 1’40.757 | 1’38.995 | -1.762 | 65 |
| 20 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’40.996 | 1’39.508 | 1’39.717 | +0.209 | 65 |
| 21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1’40.728 | 1’40.768 | 1’40.209 | -0.519 | 67 |
| 22 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’41.513 | 1’41.438 | 1’40.495 | -0.943 | 59 |
2013 Malaysian Grand Prix
- Horner: Vettel and Webber have a “healthy rivalry”
- Webber wins Malaysian GP Driver of the Weekend
- Red Bull gives up on team orders as Vettel admits he would defy them again
- Malaysia retirement no concern for Alonso
- Massa: Red Bull’s team orders not “intelligent”
Image ?é?® Red Bull/Getty
RandyMandy (@randymandy)
23rd March 2013, 6:19
All of a sudden , Mclaren looks good…
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd March 2013, 6:21
rather – not horribly off the pace – at least on the Hards they were very solid, so I guess they could even try for qualifying on them in Q3 (if they get in there)
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
23rd March 2013, 6:22
not quite, track evolution.
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd March 2013, 6:20
Looks like its tight again, and the race order might be slightly different than last round. Looking good for an entertaining race but tough for predictions!
K0V4LA1NEN
23rd March 2013, 6:20
even though it’s early days i think the people criticizing sutil may feel a bit embarrased, soon (hopefully) bianchi will be his team mate next year for FI (unless they get a better drive)
OOliver
23rd March 2013, 6:22
If Mclaren can set such fast times while having problems, then I wonder how fast the car can really be if they’ve sorted out their handling issues. This also confirms my belief that they have mainly a setup problem with the car, not saying they aerodynamics of the car doesn’t need refinement though.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
23rd March 2013, 6:26
Lotus were not running the new exhaust in FP3, well at least not the titanium version of it.
AldoG
23rd March 2013, 6:29
I am so happy to see the Force Indias up there. Sutil and Di Resta had solid pace in Australia and they seem strong again. I hope they keep up the good work. It feels good to have a new team among the big dogs.
Also, it is shocking how quickly Keith managed to put this results with a comment and a picture, just after minutes of the session. I am truly impressed.
latina (@latina)
23rd March 2013, 6:52
Really nice to see Force India moving forward.
Aditya (@adityafakhri)
23rd March 2013, 6:34
boy, the tyre brings too much uncertainty for prediction championship!
Kimi abused his first prime, but then rather consistent although not being fastest. Mercedes looked super until Lewis damaged the tyre (again). Red Bull is still the fastest but who knows their long pace? Ferrari seems faded, McLaren already found the pace (the ride not improving much though). and Force India sneaks a chance for being in podium tomorrow.
less wheel to wheel racing and more strategical stuffs tomorrrow, for sure.
forcef1 (@forcef1)
23rd March 2013, 6:56
@Adityafakhri ferrari will surely go quicker in qualy..they had better times in FP2
latina (@latina)
23rd March 2013, 7:02
I am enjoying the progress being made by Force India. It is encouraging to see new teams progressing to the front and some front runners struggling to maintain their positions . It is quite good for the sport cos I find it sometimes boring to watch the big 3 continuously slug it out for the championship year in year out. I hope FI maintain their current pace and even progress further through out the entire championship.
Thomas (@)
23rd March 2013, 7:50
the tires suck.