Free 3: Hamilton fastest as Vettel falters in Melbourne

McLaren strong as Sebastian Vettel makes rare mistake

With the teams’ and drivers’ craving a dry practice session in order to fully prepare for qualifying and the race, practice 3 was inevitably bound to be a dramatic session. And that it was, as the teams’ began qualifying simulations on the soft Pirelli tyre. Lewis Hamilton ended the session fastest, as Vettel embedded himself in the gravel.

The session started off in usual fashion, with 11 cars all spilling out of the pits early on led by Russian driver Vitaly Petrov. However, as the majority of the field completed only one installation lap, the two Mercedes’ of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg continued on and set about completing timed laps. The two Germans’ pushed a little too hard early on, however, as they both ran wide on track with Schumacher running extremely wide at turn 3.

It was Nico Rosberg who set the first timed lap of the session, with a 01:29.788 which he improved on with a 01:26.982 shortly after. As the rest of the field began to set timed laps, Lewis Hamilton went fastest, roughly three tenths ahead of Rosberg’s time.

After suffering a disastrous start to the weekend, Ferrari’s woes continued throughout FP3 as Massa spun at turn 15 and both he and Alonso continued to struggle around the Albert Park circuit. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa seemed unable to push to the limit as their cars suffered with a lack of grip.

Spanish outfit HRT completed their first trouble free session of the weekend, with both Narain Karthikeyan and Pedro De La Rosa completing 25 laps between them. They will be hoping they have done enough to be in with a chance of qualifying for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix.

As the session wore on, Michael Schumacher became the first driver to set a timed lap on the soft Pirelli compound, with a 01:26.234. His team-mate then went quicker still as the Mercedes’ swapped fastest laps atop the timing sheets.

Red Bull finally showed their first true timed lap of the weekend, as Sebastian Vettel went 3rd with a 01:26.211 on the harder Pirelli compound. However, Red Bull’s weekend took a turn for the worse as the reigning World Champion spun his RB8 into the gravel at turn 6. Whether this sudden turn of events will have an affect on Vettel’s qualifying session, or whether he’ll bounce back and secure pole like he has done so many times before, time will tell.

After the stricken RB8 was cleared away, Lotus began to show they had pace as reigning GP2 Champion Romain Grosjean went quickest with a 01:25.758. His team-mate, and former F1 World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen ended the session 12th, still getting to grips with the steering of the E20.

As the session came to a close, there was still time for yet another twist as Michael Schumacher embedded his Mercedes in the gravel at turn 9. The former World Champion has shown decent pace throughout the weekend so far, and will be hoping to bounce back in qualifying after this unfortunate off.

In the dying seconds of the session, Lewis Hamilton went fastest with a 01:25.681, a time which remained fastest as the checkered flag emerged signaling the end of FP3. With all free practice sessions now complete, the teams’ will be hoping they have gained enough information to have a competitive qualifying session.

Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1