Montréal, FP3: Webber fastest in shortened practice

Mark Webber has finished the final practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend at the top of the time sheets, posting a fasted lap of 1:17.895 in a practice marred by a thirty minute time delay and a second consecutive day of wet track conditions thus far.

Due to get underway at 10:00 local time, today’s practice session was delayed a full half hour when barrier repairs were needed on track at turn 11. FIA rules state that there can be no less than 2 hours between a free practice session and Qualifying; as such the session was limited to just 30 minutes running time as all teams are required to have their cars back in the garage by 11:00.

With little time to complete full programs, teams were reduced to short stints and tyre data gathering. Tyre selection also proved difficult for most teams as the track remained too wet for slick tyres, but too dry to make the most of the intermediate compound. Teams opted to run the intermediate compound for the most part as the ‘safe’ option whilst the track remained slippery in areas, forcing drivers to regularly cut chicanes and run wide. But with just 4 minutes remaining in the session, the track had dried enough to allow everyone a run on slick tyres, gathering much needed setup data for this afternoons’ qualifying.

There was a distinct lack of action or excitement on track early into the session thanks to the weather; the best was as always, saved for last. In the final four minutes of the session, all cars flooded the track on the slick compound as the track dried out. The times quickly started to fall, with Mark Webber taking fastest lap as the chequered flag fell.

Adrian Sutil put in an impressive performance, putting his Force India in second place and just 0.353 off the pace of Webber’s Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton was placed third, whilst Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso sat fourth.

Three time world champion Sebastian Vettel managed just fifth this morning over a 10 lap span.

Esteban Gutierrez continues to struggle with his Sauber, and despite posting the most laps in this mornings’ session (15 in total) was only able to manage a lap time of 1:22.720 – good enough for just sixteenth overall.

Williams also continue to struggle in Canada; Maldonado had several ‘offs’ over the course of the session and placed P12, whilst rookie teammate Bottas sat in 21st, almost a second off the pace of Charles Pic’s Caterham ahead of him.

Full Free Practice 3 timings can be found below. Qualifying for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2013 starts this afternoon, Saturday June 28th at 13:00 local time.