Button ahead in FP3 at Valencia

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Europe, Valencia Street Circuites

Jenson Button went fastest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the European GP. On the Valencian track, he made a single attempt on option tyres to improve Romain Grosjean's earlier time. Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest.

Early on in the session, it was again Pastor Maldonado who went fastest when everybody was still running in the harder prime tyres. With about 20 minutes left, most cars switched to the softer tyres with Grosjean initially emerging on top of the timesheet, ahead of Vettel, Senna, Kobayashi and Pérez.

5 minutes from the end, Button then topped Grosjean on his first run on the soft tyres. He was not challenged in the final 5 minutes, apart from Vettel who halfway through the lap went wide after the bridge and therefore returned slowly but without damage to the pits.

Mark Webber’s session ended in 19th place as the Australian, along with his Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov did not use the soft tyre.

Results

Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
13Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1:38.562-17
210Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1:38.6550.09318
39Kimi RäikkönenLotus-Renault1:38.7590.19718
412Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1:38.8190.25717
511Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1:38.8920.33017
615Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1:39.0840.52220
77Michael SchumacherMercedes1:39.1410.57915
84Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1:39.1780.61617
96Felipe MassaFerrari1:39.3180.75615
1018Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1:39.3570.79518
1114Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1:39.3580.79619
125Fernando AlonsoFerrari1:39.3950.83315
131Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault1:39.4340.87213
1419Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1:39.5430.98113
158Nico RosbergMercedes1:39.9461.38420
1617Jean-Eric VergneStr-Ferrari1:40.0371.47517
1716Daniel RicciardoStr-Ferrari1:40.1341.57220
1820Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1:40.6812.11915
192Mark WebberRed Bull Racing-Renault1:41.2822.7204
2021Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1:41.9313.36915
2122Pedro de la RosaHrt-Cosworth1:42.7584.19614
2225Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1:42.8154.25316
2323Narain KarthikeyanHrt-Cosworth1:42.9434.38114
2424Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1:43.1244.56216