Valencia, 26 June

At the end of the third free practice session, just ended at the Valencia street circuit, Germany’s Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull was quickest, in a time of 1.38.052, making it the fastest lap of the weekend so far. Behind him came the Renault of Robert Kubica (1.38.154) and Mark Webber in the other Red Bull in 1.38.313.

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa finished fifth (1.38.513) and eighth (1.38.686) respectively, as they carried on with the work begun yesterday, with an in-depth analysis of the updates brought here, as well as comparing the two types of tyre compound: both Ferrari men did two runs, the first on the hard and the second on the soft, which unfortunately in Felipe’s case only produced a slight improvement and none at all for Fernando. Considering the progress made by other teams, it looks like being a very closely contested fight to get through to Q3. The grid deciding qualifying session for the European Grand Prix, the ninth round of the Formula 1 World Championship, gets underway at 14.00, prior to tomorrow’s race.