Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Vettel’s nearest title challenger but 34 points
adrift, finished 0.168secs down.
McLaren continue to show considerable improvement, with Sergio Perez third
quickest and 0.322secs adrift, with Vettel in close attendance.
Perez, however, blotted his copybook late on as he lost control of his car
before sliding sideways into a barrier, ensuring his team face a tough lunch
break to prepare it for qualifying.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was fifth on the timesheet, just over four tenths of a
second down, followed closely by Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes.
Mercedes have claimed six of the last seven poles, but the change of Pirelli’s
tyres for this event so far appears to have affected them.
Following a series of blowouts at last month’s British Grand Prix, Pirelli
have been forced to alter their tyres for safety reasons, marrying last
year’s structure with this year’s compounds.
Mercedes also missed out on valuable running on the new rubber at last week’s
young driver test as they served a ban for conducting their own private test
with Pirelli in May.
Hamilton’s team-mate Nico Rosberg was down in eighth place, six tenths off the
pace, just behind Vettel’s colleague Mark Webber.
McLaren’s Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil in his Force India rounded out the
top 10, with Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen 11th, almost nine tenths of a second
behind team-mate Grosjean.
Paul Di Resta was 13th in his Force India, 1.2secs down, with Max Chilton 21st
for Marussia, albeit as Esteban Gutierrez failed to set a time due to
technical problems with his Sauber.
Third practice:
1 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus 1min 20.730secs
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:20.898
3 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:21.052
4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:21.125
5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:21.151
6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 1:21.158
7 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:21.254
8 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:21.356
9 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:21.499
10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:21.519
11 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus 1:21.589
12 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:21.646
13 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:21.963
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber 1:21.964
15 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso 1:22.180
16 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 1:22.423
17 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:23.028
18 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:23.975
19 Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:23.987
20 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:24.298
21 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:25.122
22 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber No time
(Edited by Giles Mole)