• Peg It on GarageMonkey
F1: Vettel Leads Red Bull Stampede In P3
Red Bull teammates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber paced final practice in Suzuka...
Jared Turner  |  Posted October 05, 2012   Suzuka (JPN)
Sebastian Vettel led final practice in Japan. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Red Bull clearly has a strong package this weekend at Suzuka Circuit.

After RBR driver Mark Webber showed the way in Friday's second practice, it was teammate Sebastian Vettel topping Saturday's final run ahead of knockout qualifying.

Vettel, who beat out Webber with a lap of 1:32:136 recorded literally at the last possible moment of the one-hour session, is looking to make it two victories in a row after triumphing two weeks ago in Singapore.

Webber's lap of 1:32:371 was easily good enough for second, as Ferrari driver Felipe Massa (1:32:824), Michael Schumacher and Sergio Perez completed the top five.

Filling out the rest of the top 10 were Kamui Kobayashi, Romain Grosjean, Jenson Button, Paul Di Resta and Pastor Maldonado.

Just missing the top 10 was World Championship leader Fernando Alonso, who clocked in 11th.

As was the case in Friday's second practice, Free Practice Three was not without incident.

Getting the short end of the stick this time was Nico Hulkenberg, who, after a strong showing in FP2, crashed in final practice when his Force India collided with the barriers at the second Degner corner.

Hulkenberg climbed from his vehicle with 20 minutes still remaining, his car carrying significant damage on the front end and left rear.

Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix marks the 15th of 20 events on the 2012 Formula One calendar, which concludes in late November with the Brazilian GP.

Coming into the weekend, Alonso leads the drivers' standings by 29 points over Vettel, 45 over Kimi Raikkonen and 52 over Lewis Hamilton. Webber (-61) completes the top five.

Alonso and Hamilton both have a season-high three victories, while Webber, Vettel and Button, each with two victories, are the season's other repeat winners.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jared Turner

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.