F1-EL3: Vettel, the reference in Sepang testing

The behavior of the Pirelli tires seems to have evolved further today on the Sepang circuit, with the medium compounds degrading more quickly compared to the day before. Following the showers which occurred at the end of the second session yesterday, certain teams including Red Bull Racing took advantage of the dry weather to still work for the race before devoting the last minutes of testing to the qualifications contested this morning.

Sebastian Vettel set the best time in free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, setting a benchmark time of 1’36”435. The three-time world champion still seems to be the favorite for pole even if his opponents are not far away. Lewis Hamilton indeed posted competitive times and finished being closest to the German. Adrian Sutil and Mark Webber are also behind by less than two tenths. Kimi Räikkönen completes the top five after complaining about the new handling of his Lotus E21. The Finn, who was the fastest at the end of the first day of testing, is ahead of Paul di Resta's Force India by a thousandth, the VJM06s seeming competitive on the Malaysian track. Jenson Button places first McLaren one hundredth of the Scotsman.

Felipe Massa ranks eighth, the Team having shown herself to be slightly behind in this session since Fernando Alonso finished tenth, eight tenths behind. Nico Rosberg slots in between the two Ferraris with only three thousandths behind the Sao Paulista. Pastor Maldonado is the last driver less than a second behind Sebastian Vettel. Sergio Pérez finished in 12th place ahead Nico Hulkenberg. Romain Grosjean is only 14th after losing pit time following an off-track excursion slightly damaging his car. The Frenchman could still have performed better in the rankings without being slowed down by a competitor during his flying lap. Valtteri Bottas is the author of the 15th fastest time ahead of Esteban Gutiérrez. Jean-Eric Vergne is 17th, ahead of his teammate by a few thousandths Daniel Ricciardo. Charles Pic is 19th ahead of his compatriot Jules Bianchi. Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton bring up the rear.

Qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix will take place at 16 p.m. (9 a.m. in France) and can be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr.