• British Grand Prix - FP3

Vettel fastest after final practice

ESPNF1 Staff
July 10, 2010
Sebastian Vettel looks fastest ahead of qualifying © Getty Images
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Sebastian Vettel led the way in the final practice session before qualifying at the British Grand Prix, setting a time of 1:30.958 fractionally faster than Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.

The Red Bulls have topped every practice session so far this weekend and look set to have the upper hand heading into the all-important qualifying session. However, as has often been the case with the team this year, there are some concerns over reliability as Vettel experienced a front wing failure at the high-speed Abbey corner on his final lap.

The nose of the car hinged down on its mounting point, causing massive understeer and forcing Vettel to abort the lap. The team fitted a new nose cone when the car was returned to the pits and will be hoping the problem is not a fundamental fault with the chassis.

Behind the Red Bulls Fernando Alonso was third fastest after setting some promising lap times on hard tyres earlier in the session. He was not able to experiment with the softer compound, as his car was taken to pieces at the end of the session and he missed out on the last 10 minutes of running. But with a time just 0.101 off the Red Bulls, he wcould well be angling for a front-row position in qualifying.

Meanwhile, McLaren's nightmare home grand prix continued with Lewis Hamilton seventh fastest and Jenson Button 12th. The team ditched its blown diffuser overnight and has now reverted to its Valencia-spec exhaust layout, but it was to little avail with Hamilton still 0.5 seconds off the pace.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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