Practice 3 Report - Vettel favourite for Indian GP pole

Sebastian Vettel (1m25.842) set the fastest time in the final session of free pratcice for the Indian GP. The Red Bull's margin of 0.19s over Jenson Button's McLaren (1m26.034) did not appear to tell the full story, as Vettel set quickest times in all three sectors without putting the ful lap together.

All the indications suggest that the Red Bull has the potential to go half a second quicker. Button, who lost time on Friday afternoon with a gearbox issue that McLaren say is "a contained problem," lapped 0.07s quicker than Mark Webber (1:26.108), who had quick spin on entry to the final turn on his way to third fastest time.

Lewis Hamilton (1:26.151) also had a lurid moment at the last corner in the closing moments of the hour-long session, meaning that he actually set his fourth quickest time on the harder Pirelli tyre.

Kimi Raikkonen (1:26.209) turnd the fifth quickest lap for Lotus which, after an impressive long run on the option tyre on Friday afternoon, suggests that the team could have a strong race.

Bruno Senna (1:26.214), under pressure for his Williams seat in 2013, has looked impressive all weekend and finished the session in a strong sixth place, three tenths clear of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari (1:26.521).

The Ferraris spent some session time running together, hinting that they could try a towing strategy in qualifying to try to vault Alonso a bit nearer to the front with the F2012 having demonstrated strong race pace on the longer runs on Friday afternoon.

Nico Hulkenberg's Force India (1:26.531), Michael Schumacher's Mercedes (1:26.652) and Romain Grosjean's Lotus completed the top 10.