Lewis Hamilton dominates FP3 at 2012 Chinese Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has set the fastest time in the final free practice session at 2012 Chinese Grand Prix held Shanghai International Circuit on Saturday.
The British driver dominated in FP3 with a time of 1 minute and 35.940 seconds and completed 13 laps. Hamilton remained ahead of his compatriot and teammate, Jenson Button who covered 12 laps. There was a gap of 0.123 seconds between the pair of McLaren
drivers.
It is interesting to note that the Working based team ran their cars with slight updates which they think will enhance their pace in the race ahead.
Button was followed by Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher of Mercedes AMG who finished 16 and 17 laps during the final practice session.
Moreover, it will be important to know that the DRS-activated F-duct device is keep on providing a competitive edge to the drivers of the Brackley based team. However, Schumacher has not been able to convert his inspiring performances before the races into
a podium finish so far in this season.
The seven-time world champion was followed by Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing who came fifth and covered 16 laps after setting his best time of 1 minute and 36.635 seconds. The Australian driver was ahead of Pastor Maldonado of Williams who set the sixth
best time and completed 17 laps.
Maldonado was followed by Sergio Perez of Sauber who completed 19 laps during the final practice. The Mexican driver stayed ahead of his teammate, Kamui Kobayashi of who completed 17 laps and set the eighth best time of the final practice.
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull set the ninth best time after covering 15 laps. Furthermore, the double world champion has been running the RB8 during the free practice sessions with the older specification of the exhaust layout. The reason for using the older
exhaust design is to evaluate the car’s performance and to explore its full potential which is yet to be achieved by the defending champions in the season so far.
Vettel stayed ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus who set the tenth best time of the final practice. The Finnish driver was followed by Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean, Paul di Resta and Bruno Senna.
It was a struggling session for the Spaniard, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari as he could only set the 15th best time and completed 12 laps while his teammate Felipe Massa came 18th on the timesheets after completing 14 laps.
In addition, Shanghai circuit was quite challenging for the drivers as there were many lock-ups and wide runs during the final practice session. However, it provided a meaningful opportunity to all the teams to create a better understanding about the performance
of their cars and the track conditions.
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