Indian Grand Prix 2012: Red Bull’s Vettel fastest in final practice

Sebastian Vettel held off McLaren’s Jenson Button to leave the Red Bull drive top of the time sheets ahead of Sunday’s Indian Grand Prix.

The German, who has been consistently fastest through all the weekend’s practice sessions, finished 0.192 seconds quicker than Button.

Making it a session of two teams, Vettel’s Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber finished third fastest with Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren just behind.

Fernando Alonso, who is now playing catching up to try in the drivers’ championship after Vettel moved six points ahead, could only manage seventh fastest in his Ferrari.

However, several drivers were struggling to race on the faster ‘soft’ tyre, so it is likely that Red Bull have not yet shown their true pace. Vettel noticeably backed off in the final sector of his fastest lap and still finished quickest.

It is thought the team have made improvements ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session, so they are strong favourites to lock out the front row of the grid for the third race in a row.

Indian Grand Prix: Final Practice Times

1. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1’25.842

2. Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1’26.034

3. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1’26.108

4. Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1’26.151

5. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus 1’26.209

6 Bruno Senna (Bra) Willian 1’26.214

7. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1’26.521

8. Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 1’26.531

9. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 1’26.652

10. Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus 1’26.664

11. Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrai 1’26.664

12. Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1’27.140

13. Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber 1’27.162

14. Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1’27.193

15. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1’27.229

16. Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso 1’27.229

17. Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 1’27.711

18. Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1’27.983

19. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham 1’29.035

20. Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Caterham 1’29.237

21. Timo Glock (Ger) Marussia 1’29.617

22. Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia 1’30.298

23. Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 1’30.824

24. Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT-F1 1’30.873

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