Rosberg sets pre-qualifying benchmark

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Written by Alex Norton No comments

Mercedes' Nico Rosberg topped the final practice session at the Circuit de Monaco, narrowly beating a rejuvenated Felipe Massa and last year's winner Sebastian Vettel to the top of the timesheets.

After early fears of rain, the session began at 11am local time under sunny skies. Thursday's interrupted rain saw key players take to the track almost immediately, with the Lotus and Mercedes duo swapping fastest lap times. Later the Ferrari pair came to the fore, with Massa looking particularly competitive. McLaren and Red Bull did not trouble the frontrunners, opting to run their own low-key programmes on the harder compound tyre.

Under-pressure Massa was ultimately ousted by Rosberg before the session descended into chaos. Force India driver Paul di Resta lost control coming out of the tunnel to lose his front wing, whilst Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado clipped the barriers at Casino Square and lost a left rear wheel.

The subsequent red flag brought the session to an early close, leaving the teams just two hours to finalise their plans ahead of qualifying.

Pos No Driver Team Time Laps
18Germany Nico RosbergGermany Mercedes01:15.15925
26Brazil Felipe MassaItaly Ferrari01:15.19721
31Germany Sebastian VettelAustria Red Bull01:15.20920
45Spain Fernando AlonsoItaly Ferrari01:15.21020
510France Romain GrosjeanUnited Kingdom Lotus01:15.44518
63United Kingdom Jenson ButtonUnited Kingdom McLaren01:15.47119
74United Kingdom Lewis HamiltonUnited Kingdom McLaren01:15.73419
87Germany Michael SchumacherGermany Mercedes01:15.89323
915Mexico Sergio PérezSwitzerland Sauber01:16.11014
102Australia Mark WebberAustria Red Bull01:16.21919
1117France Jean-Eric VergneItaly Toro Rosso01:16.22620
129Finland Kimi RäikkönenUnited Kingdom Lotus01:16.30121
1314Japan Kamui KobayashiSwitzerland Sauber01:16.31119
1416Australia Daniel RicciardoItaly Toro Rosso01:16.47920
1512Germany Nico HulkenbergIndia Force India01:17.02720
1619Brazil Bruno SennaUnited Kingdom Williams01:17.05526
1720Finland Heikki KovalainenUnited Kingdom Caterham01:17.27625
1811United Kingdom Paul di RestaIndia Force India01:17.39019
1921Russian Federation Vitaly PetrovUnited Kingdom Caterham01:17.40422
2024Germany Timo GlockUnited Kingdom Marussia01:18.25918
2118Venezuela Pastor MaldonadoUnited Kingdom Williams01:18.48822
2225France Charles PicUnited Kingdom Marussia01:19.09917
2322India Narain KarthikeyanSpain HRT01:19.14719
2423Spain Pedro de la RosaSpain HRT01:19.15119

About the Author

Alex has been a passionate F1 fan for as long as he can remember, catching the motorsport bug in the nineties after he was presented with his own kart. He met Felix in his school days and together they founded F1Lite which gained thousands of followers through Twitter and their website. Felix is now a member of the PortalF1 team too. Alex has journalistic ambitions, particularly in the field of sports and politics. However, in his spare time he prefers to relax by cycling, playing badminton, eating out and reading - a world away from the high octane thrills of motorsport.

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