Alonso fastest in third practice at Spa

 September 1st, 2012 (F1plus team).- The sun shone on the Belgian track, allowing the team to tackle a busy programme making up for the time lost to heavy showers yesterday. Behind the Spanish Ferrari driver who lapped in 1.48.542, came Kimi Raikkonen (1.48.683) for Lotus and the Sauber of Sergio Perez (1.48.850).

Kimi Raikkonen, fromer Ferrari's 2007 world champion, was second fastest at a circuit taht has rewarded the Finn with four wins over his career.

Lotus had planned to test a new system, which they have named simply 'The Device' but it goes more in line with DDDRS (Double DRS), to boost their straight-line speed but decided not to after heavy rain on Friday left them with just an hour of track time to prepare for qualifying.

Even without the new "device"  the Lotus car looked quick with Raikkonen hoping to be challenging for his first win of the season in Sunday's race - the 12th round of the 20 race calendar.

Both Red Bulls took it easy, with Mark Webber finishing with the seventh fastest time, and defending double F1 champion Sebastian Vettel the ninth best.

Webber, however, must contend with a five-place grid penalty for the second time in three races for an unscheduled gearbox change, and will start Sunday's race no higher than sixth on the grid.

It was a disastrous time for Nico Rosberg, whose Mercedes became stuck in sixth gear and pulled off-track barely ten minutes in. This left the German with not a single run on the Option, Medium compound, given the lack of action the previous sessions. . 

Below the times for the session:

           .1. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Ferrari F2012)              1:48.542
	   .2. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Lotus E20)                   1:48.683
	   .3. Sergio Pérez (MEX/Sauber C31)                    1:48.850
	   .4. Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Sauber C31)                 1:48.863
	   .5. Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren MP4-27)               1:49.091
	   .6. Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari F2012)                 1:49.092
	   .7. Mark Webber (AUS/Reb Bull RB8)                   1:49.164
	   .8. Romain Grosjean (FRA/Lotus E20)                  1:49.266
	   .9. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull RB8)              1:49.292
	   10. Paul di Resta (FRA/Force India VJM05)            1:49.382
	   11. Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Williams FW34)             1:49.561
	   12. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren MP4-27)              1:49.615
	   13. Michael Schumacher (GER/Mercedes F1 W03)         1:49.621
	   14. Nico Huelkenberg (GER/Force India VJM05)         1:49.674
	   15. Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA/Toro Rosso STR7)           1:49.710
	   16. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Toro Rosso STR7)           1:49.776
	   17. Bruno Senna (BRA/Williams FW34)                  1:50.027
	   18. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/Caterham CT01)            1:52.339
	   19. Charles Pic (FRA/Marussia MR01)                  1:52.566
	   20. Timo Glock (GER/Marussia MR01)                   1:52.630
	   21. Vitaly Petrov (RUS/Caterhan CT01)                1:52.809
	   22. Pedro de la Rosa (ESP/HRT 112)                   1:53.383
	   23. Narain Karthikeyan (IND/HRT 112)                 1:53.562
	   24. Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes F1 W03)               1:58.113