• Singapore Grand Prix - FP3

Grosjean takes fight to Vettel in FP3

ESPN Staff
September 21, 2013
Sebastian Vettel set the pace again in final practice © Sutton Images
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Sebastian Vettel showed no letup in his pursuit of pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix as he topped the final practice session ahead of qualifying, but could face a rival in Lotus' Romain Grosjean.

After dominating Friday practice, Vettel was again the driver to beat as the sun went down on Saturday evening, although Grosjean managed to get within two tenths of the Red Bull with his fastest lap. The Lotus driver is not a championship challenger, but the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen will all hope he can disrupt Vettel's rhythm after they all struggled for pace again on the 5.1km street circuit.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest and 0.748s off Vettel's pace, while Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg managed the third fastest time, 0.568s off the top of the timesheets. Mark Webber split the two Mercedes, and although he was 0.733s off Vettel during the qualifying simulation runs on super-soft tyres, he continued to show good pace on the mediums.

Alonso's struggles continued as he finished the session in sixth and a whole second off his title rival Vettel. On Friday he admitted his car was uncompetitive and the problems with the F138 were backed up in FP3 by another lacklustre showing from team-mate Felipe Massa back in tenth.

For the second day in a row, Raikkonen's pace was masked by traffic and he heads into qualifying without completing a clean hot lap. He attempted a quick lap at the end of the session, but with his super-softs past their best his time was 1.974s off the pace and left him 12th fastest overall. It was a warning to all of the grid just how important a clean qualifying lap is at the Marina Bay circuit.

The McLarens and Toro Rossos are likely to by vying for the final few places in Q3, while Nico Hulkenberg looks capable of springing another surprise in the Sauber and breaking into the top 10.

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