» European GP: Vettel quickest in final practice

Sebastian Vettel has hit the top of the timesheets in the final practice session before this afternoon’s qualifying round for the European Grand Prix at Valencia.

Red Bull Racing and Ferrari took out the top-four spots in final practice, with Vettel lapping some 0.4 seconds faster than Fernando Alonso, while Felipe Massa and Mark Webber were not far behind.

Today’s conditions were the same as Friday’s weather conditions, with bright and sunny conditions greeting the 24 drivers in the final 60 minutes of free running.

After missing out on yesterday’s second practice session, Jaime Alguersuari got more miles in his Toro Rosso with a fresh Ferrari engine after his mechanics decided to switch V8 units. In other news, the McLaren drivers decided to keep their newly-designed front wings, while the Ferraris opted for the split strategy with theirs: Massa kept the new-spec double-plane front wing, while Alonso reverted to the triple-plane design.

Fernando Alonso was the early pace-setter, until the Red Bulls recorded the fastest two laps at the midpoint of the session.

Approaching the final ten minutes, Massa headed to the top of the timesheets until team-mate Alonso clocked purple sectors on his hot lap to eclipse the Brazilian.

And then Vettel came out once again to stamp his authority a claim the time-honoured mantle as favourite to take pole position once again with a rapid lap time of 1:37.258.

Behind the top-four, Jenson Button finished fifth-fastest as the quickest McLaren, while Nico Rosberg – who was also briefly quickest at one point – dropped to sixth. The sisters cars of Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher finished seventh- and eighth-quickest respectively.

The two Renaults completed the top ten, with Vitaly Petrov lapping fractionally quicker than team-mate Nick Heidfeld.

Despite a few minor off-track moments, the most notable incident came in the dying minutes of the session when Kamui Kobayashi suffered a major lock-up in his Sauber, shotting up an escape road and damaging his front wing.

————————————————————————————————————-

2011 European Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Renault RB7	1:37.258	15
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.420	16
3.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F150° Italia	+ 0.582	17
4.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Renault RB7	+ 0.810	13
5.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 1.068	13
6.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP W02	+ 1.322	15
7.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes MP4-26	+ 1.483	13
8.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP W02	+ 1.541	14
9.	Vitaly Petrov	Renault R31	+ 1.564	17
10.	Nick Heidfeld	Renault R31	+ 1.855	15
11.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 2.153	19
12.	Sergio Pérez	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 2.520	18
13.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM04	+ 2.565	18
14.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari C30	+ 2.590	18
15.	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 2.630	17
16.	Rubens Barrichello	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 2.729	18
17.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Cosworth FW33	+ 2.746	16
18.	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6	+ 2.981	20
19.	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault T128	+ 4.009	15
20.	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault T128	+ 4.432	18
21.	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 5.299	18
22.	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 5.985	17
23.	Jérôme d’Ambrosio	Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02	+ 6.051	18
24.	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT F1 Cosworth F111	+ 7.372	19