Button continues domination in FP3
F1 Grand Prix, GP Japan, Circuit Suzuka
Jenson Button has once again come out on top at the end of third free practice, after doing the same in Friday's sessions. The Briton went half a second faster than his teammate and is more than 8 tenths ahead of championship leader Sebastian Vettel.
The session was stopped once when Bruno Senna went off at spoon curve and hit the inside barrier hard enough to break his left front suspension. At that time, Jenson Button was already on top of the timesheet, although not yet with the fastest time of the session.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:31.255 | - | 13 |
| 2 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:31.762 | 0.507 | 16 |
| 3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Rbr-Renault | 1:32.122 | 0.867 | 18 |
| 4 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:32.279 | 1.024 | 16 |
| 5 | 2 | Mark Webber | Rbr-Renault | 1:32.401 | 1.146 | 14 |
| 6 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:32.429 | 1.174 | 16 |
| 7 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:32.725 | 1.470 | 19 |
| 8 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:32.878 | 1.623 | 17 |
| 9 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:33.058 | 1.803 | 15 |
| 10 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:33.424 | 2.169 | 14 |
| 11 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Str-Ferrari | 1:33.469 | 2.214 | 18 |
| 12 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Str-Ferrari | 1:33.545 | 2.290 | 18 |
| 13 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:33.818 | 2.563 | 17 |
| 14 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:33.836 | 2.581 | 21 |
| 15 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:33.990 | 2.735 | 16 |
| 16 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:34.321 | 3.066 | 21 |
| 17 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:35.389 | 4.134 | 5 |
| 18 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:35.651 | 4.396 | 18 |
| 19 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:36.327 | 5.072 | 16 |
| 20 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:36.912 | 5.657 | 14 |
| 21 | 25 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:37.938 | 6.683 | 17 |
| 22 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:38.011 | 6.756 | 16 |
| 23 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | Hrt-Cosworth | 1:38.355 | 7.100 | 19 |
| 24 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Hrt-Cosworth | 1:41.097 | 9.842 | 8 |
