The title contenders were split by 0.027secs on this occasion, albeit over
three tenths of a second behind Massa.
With Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus occupying the top six places, there was no
room for Mercedes in the hierarchy as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were
down in ninth and 11th.
The duo have been on pole at the last two races, but this time around Mercedes
appear to be struggling.
Hamilton had Force India duo Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil ahead of him in
the pecking order, whilst Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne also managed to get
ahead of Rosberg, who finished 0.938secs adrift of Massa.
As for McLaren, there was a small improvement, at least in time if not in
position as Jenson Button was again 12th, 1.250secs off the pace.
Despite two new front wings arriving overnight in a bid to close the gap on
their rivals given the lack of performance from the upgrades on the car this
weekend, neither were used, and are unlikely to be for qualifying, a McLaren
spokesman confirmed.£Sergio Perez was down in 14th, almost 1.5secs down,
with even fellow Mexican Esteban Gutierrez – who replaced him at Sauber for
this year – ahead of him in 13th.
Towards the rear were the usual suspects in Williams, Marussia and Caterham,
with British rookie Max Chilton 21st and 3.2secs adrift, with Giedo van der
Garde slowest, a further 0.2secs down.
Third practice times:
1 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1min 21.901secs
2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus 1:21.907
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:22.044
4 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus 1:22.069
5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:22.229
6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:22.254
7 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:22.574
8 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:22.729
9 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 1:22.740
10 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 1:22.759
11 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:22.839
12 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:23.151
13 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber 1:23.371
14 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:23.373
15 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:23.385
16 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber 1:23.388
17 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:23.660
18 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso 1:23.767
19 Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:24.775
20 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:24.793
21 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:25.135
22 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:25.250