Vettel confirms blistering Red Bull pace in final practice

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Japan, Circuit Suzukajp

Sebastian Vettel recorded the quickest lap around Suzuka during the final practice session ahead of qualifying. The World Champion went fastest in a last-minute lap, pipping his team mate Mark Webber from the top of the timesheet.

Michael Schumacher had the fastest time in hand 5 minutes from the end of the session, but then of course many tried a final qualifying lap to see what to expect from the soft tyres. That didn't come without issues however, as several drivers saw their laps ruined by backmarkers. Lewis Hamilton for instance had to avoid an extremely slow running Marussia after the high speed 130R corner, eventually missing the next chicane. In fact neither McLaren driver managed to set a clean lap, hance their somewhat disappointing best laptimes.

Ferrari and Alonso meanwhile also made attempts to set a flying lap but neither driver was able to match the pace of the front running McLaren and Red Bull drivers. Massa was the better of the two, albeit more than half a second off the pace of the Red Bulls. Fernando Alonso is ranked lowly in 11th place.

Nico Hulkenberg's day meanwhile came to an early end 20 minutes earlier as the Force India driver lost control of his car in the second Degner curve, crashing off and damaging the front left part of his car.

Results

Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
11Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault1:32.136-17
22Mark WebberRed Bull Racing-Renault1:32.3710.23520
36Felipe MassaFerrari1:32.8240.68813
47Michael SchumacherMercedes1:32.9180.78223
515Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1:32.9200.78419
614Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1:32.9240.78815
710Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1:33.0080.87221
83Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1:33.0250.88916
911Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1:33.0940.95817
1018Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1:33.1601.02416
115Fernando AlonsoFerrari1:33.1841.04814
129Kimi RäikkönenLotus-Renault1:33.2241.08815
134Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1:33.5691.43314
1417Jean-Eric VergneStr-Ferrari1:33.7221.58618
158Nico RosbergMercedes1:33.8991.76323
1619Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1:33.9841.84819
1716Daniel RicciardoStr-Ferrari1:34.0231.88719
1812Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1:34.3692.23311
1920Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1:35.5683.43219
2021Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1:36.3554.21918
2124Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1:36.3894.25311
2225Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1:36.5174.381
2323Narain KarthikeyanHrt-Cosworth1:36.6494.513
2422Pedro de la RosaHrt-Cosworth1:36.8754.739