Abu Dhabi GP: Hamilton tops Practice 3
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| Lewis Hamilton |
Lewis Hamilton led a McLaren 1-2 in the third and final practice session for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. His teammate Jenson Button was second, but the star of the session was Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel sat in the garage while his mechanics worked on his brakes and it wasn't until the final five minutes of the session that he finally got on track. Despite the handicap Vettel turned the third fastest time of the session less than 1/2 second back of Hamilton.
Mark Webber was 4th with Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top5.
Vettel’s nearest championship challenger, Fernando Alonso, was back in 8th, his Ferrari still inferior to the Adrian Newey designed Red Bull of Vettel.
Results
| Pos | Driver | Team/Car | Time | Behind | Laps |
| 1. | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m42.130s | +0.000s | 18 |
| 2. | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m42.420s | +0.290s | 17 |
| 3. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1m42.614s | +0.484s | 7 |
| 4. | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1m42.743s | +0.613s | 18 |
| 5. | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1m42.750s | +0.620s | 19 |
| 6. | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1m43.015s | +0.885s | 18 |
| 7. | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1m43.064s | +0.934s | 19 |
| 8. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1m43.133s | +1.003s | 15 |
| 9. | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1m43.184s | +1.054s | 22 |
| 10. | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1m43.338s | +1.208s | 19 |
| 11. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1m43.480s | +1.350s | 17 |
| 12. | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m43.571s | +1.441s | 20 |
| 13. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m43.593s | +1.463s | 20 |
| 14. | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1m43.635s | +1.505s | 19 |
| 15. | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m44.010s | +1.880s | 22 |
| 16. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m44.025s | +1.895s | 18 |
| 17. | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1m44.071s | +1.941s | 19 |
| 18. | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m44.149s | +2.019s | 19 |
| 19. | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1m45.301s | +3.171s | 22 |
| 20. | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1m45.879s | +3.749s | 19 |
| 21. | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1m46.036s | +3.906s | 19 |
| 22. | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1m46.261s | +4.131s | 22 |
| 23. | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1m46.554s | +4.424s | 20 |
| 24. | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1m47.032s | +4.902s | 22 |