Kubica puts Renault on top

Having enjoyed a day off on Friday, the F1 field was back on track this morning for a third and final practice session before this afternoon’s crucial qualification.

It got off to a slow start with the drivers completing some installation laps before returning to the pits.

Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari kicked off the action with a first flying lap with thirteen minutes gone. Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel quickly joined him at the front, while Timo Glock had to pull off down the escape road at the chicane with what looked like a technical problem on his Virgin.

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa didn’t wait too long before storming at the front… only for the Spaniard to crash a few seconds later at Massenet. The driver was unhurt but his F10 was heavily damaged, meaning the Ferrari mechanics will have their hands full during the lunch break as they will race against time to get Alonso’s car fixed in time for qualifying.

Once the track was cleared, Robert Kubica took charge at the front. Lewis Hamilton snatched top spot away from him a few minutes later but the Pole was able to retake the lead shortly after the halfway marker with a 1’15’’504 fastest time.

Sebastian Vettel then moved up to 2nd, some six hundredths of a second away from Kubica. It was then Rosberg’s time to show himself at the front as he put his Mercedes in P2. Mark Webber brought his Red Bull up in P4 and; with less than 20 minutes remaining; the top five was covered by 0.066s.

The Australian then upped the pace with a 1’15’’210 fastest lap. The final dash saw Kubica improve on Webber’s time and come on top. Some of his rivals suffered from the heavy traffic and couldn’t find a clear lap in the last minutes of the session.

Kubica ended practice fastest with Massa 2nd and Webber 3rd. Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest for McLaren with Vettel trailing him by 0.008s. Michael Schumacher went slightly faster than his teammate Nico Rosberg to round off the top six.

Buemi, Sutil and Button completed the top ten.