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F1: Vettel Bullish Again In Final Austin Practice
Sebastian Vettel led all three practices this weekend at COTA...
Jared Turner  |  Posted November 17, 2012   Austin, TX
Sebastian Vettel sits in his car at Circuit of the Americas. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
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Sebastian Vettel continues to administer an all-out assault on his competition at Circuit of the Americas.

Vettel, who led both of Friday's practices at the new Austin course by a substantial margin, remained on top in Free Practice Three with a lap of 1:36:490 recorded in the final minutes.

Lewis Hamilton (1:36:748), who ran second and fourth, respectively, in Friday's sessions, was strong once again, but more than two tenths off Vettel's Red Bull.

Pastor Maldonado, Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg completed the top five, followed by Felipe Massa, Mark Webber, Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Jenson Button.

The one-hour practice, while the shortest of the weekend, wasn't without incident.

Sergio Perez and Charles Pic made sure of it, colliding and both spinning but avoiding significant damage.

Jean-Eric Vergne later suffered a mechanical failure on his Toro Rosso, stopping at the side of the track and bringing out a local yellow.

With only Sunday's United States GP and next week's season finale in Brazil left on the 2012 schedule, German Vettel holds a 10-point lead over Spaniard Alonso in the championship standings.

No other driver is mathematically alive in the championship fight.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.
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