» Turkish GP: Vettel quickest in final practice, but only just…

The absence of any dry weather running would have most drivers in something of a panic with just an hour of free running before qualifying, but when your name is Sebastian Vettel, this is a mere speed-bump in the road.

After a high-speed practice crash in the rain-affected first practice session – which damaged all four corners of his RB7 and left him missing in action during yesterday afternoon’s running – Vettel went quickest in the final session by just on-thousandth of a second from Michael Schumacher, whose Mercedes GP continues to show sparkling form at Istanbul.

Much brighter weather greeted the grid’s 24 drivers this morning as final practice got underway, with clear skies taking track temperatures to 30°C shortly after the session began.

While Vettel was quick to get going and clock up some much-needed dry-weather mileage, it was the Mercedes GP pairing of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg who set the early pace – Rosberg would finish up fourth-fastest at the end of the one-hour session.

Another driver regularly at the sharp end of the timesheets was Jenson Button, although the McLaren driver still seemed to be struggling with some lurid handling under braking at the end of the back straight. His McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished one spot behind him in sixth place.

Vitaly Petrov was seventh-fastest, while Fernando Alonso eased out Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa to go eighth-quickest, although the Spaniard limped back to the pits with his car stuck in sixth gear.

Sébastien Buemi rounded out the top ten in a confidence-boosting session for the Toro Rosso driver, while team-mate Jaime Alguersuari was well down in 17th place after he lost track time with a spin at Turn 4.

2011 Turkish Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Renault RB7	1:26.037	17
2.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP W02	+ 0.001	17
3.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Renault RB7	+ 0.367	16
4.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP W02	+ 0.383	19
5.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 0.541	17
6.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 0.689	14
7.	Vitaly Petrov	Renault R31	+ 0.718	20
8.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.782	12
9.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.846	12
10.	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 1.043	16
11.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 1.084	20
12.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 1.218	18
13.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 1.281	19
14.	Nick Heidfeld	Renault R31	+ 1.342	17
15.	Rubens Barrichello	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 1.491	19
16.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 1.607	18
17.	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 1.687	15
18.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 1.939	19
19.	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault T128	+ 2.874	15
20.	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault T128	+ 3.660	17
21.	Jérôme d’Ambrosio	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 5.060	25
22.	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 5.138	19
23.	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 5.338	19
24.	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 5.972	19