Vettel pips Schumacher in final practice

The final 60-minute practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix was held this morning under clear skies. With the threat of rain all but gone, the teams could resume their preparations for qualifying and the race on a dry – although cool – track.

The session got off to a slow start as the drivers limited their running to some installation laps. Virgin’s Jérôme d’Ambrosio kicked off the action after some twenty minutes and posted the same time on the board.

The other drivers progressively followed suit and, halfway through the session, 23 out of 24 had a time on the board. Jaime Alguersuari was the only one missing after spinning at Turn 4 on his first proper run. He couldn’t rejoin the track and had to climb out of his Toro Rosso.

At the other end of the scale, Sebastian Vettel bounced back in style from his Friday’s crash. Despite having missed all the dry running time yesterday as his mechanics repaired his RB7, the German immediately found his pace and set the fastest time.

At the midway point, he was leading from Rosberg, Webber, Petrov and Hamilton.

Toro Rosso’s Buemi was one of the first to take on the softer tyre and moved ahead of Vettel with just under twenty minutes remaining. Felipe Massa – also on soft tyres - then went quickest while Vettel – still on the hard tyre - jumped Buemi in the standings.

Soft tyres also helped Alonso to move on top… but both Mercedes were back on track and on flying laps. Rosberg was first to edge out the Spaniard for top spot but was beaten shortly afterwards by his teammate Schumacher.

With less than ten minutes remaining, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton moved up to P3 and P4. In the meantime, Alonso slowly made his way back into the pits with his Ferrari stuck in sixth gear.

Webber’s soft run saw him move up to P3 as his teammate set the fastest time of the session…going one thousandth of a second quicker than Schumacher! Webber remained in third place behind the two Germans. Rosberg was fourth fastest ahead of Button.

Hamilton, Petrov, Alonso, Massa and Buemi completed the top ten.