Vettel tops charts in final Korean practice

The German keeps building momentum ahead of qualifying. Both McLaren drivers, Hamilton and Button, clocked second and third best times respectively.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Yeongam, South Korea, Oct 13, 2012 (AFP) - Sebastian Vettel topped the time charts in final practice at the Korean Grand Prix on Saturday, with his world championship rival Fernando Alonso more than a second off the pace.

The Red Bull of Vettel is four points behind the Ferrari man going into Sunday's race, after which there are just four grand prix left in what has been a highly unpredictable season. But the German has the momentum.

He was fastest in second practice on Friday and sent out another ominous warning in the third and final practice when he clocked a best time of one minute 37.642 seconds.

Alonso was only sixth-fastest, 1.063 seconds off, while McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton registered the second-quickest time, 0.527 slower than reigning double world champion Vettel.

The fellow McLaren and Briton Jenson Button was third-fastest, followed by Romain Grosjean in a Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso. Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, second-fastest on Friday, was seventh.

Below the times for the session:

Pos	Driver	Team	Times	Gap	Laps
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:37.642		17
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.169	0.527	12
3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:38.511	0.869	13
4	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:38.582	0.940	16
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	1:38.666	1.024	18
6	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:38.705	1.063	12
7	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:38.766	1.124	7
8	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:38.791	1.149	13
9	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:38.833	1.191	16
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:38.932	1.290	17
11	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.954	1.312	17
12	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:39.010	1.368	20
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:39.150	1.508	18
14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:39.156	1.514	18
15	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:39.345	1.703	14
16	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	1:39.448	1.806	17
17	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1:39.537	1.895	18
18	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1:39.706	2.064	18
19	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1:41.114	3.472	14
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1:41.437	3.795	19
21	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1:41.684	4.042	16
22	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1:42.062	4.420	15
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1:42.845	5.203	15
24	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1:42.882	5.240	14