Sebastian Vettel, Redbull Racing F1 Team, F1 2012, Spanish GP Practice

Photo by Vladimir Rys/Getty Images

Sebastian Vettel seems to be quite happy with the improvements on his RB8 at Mugello, having clocked the fastest time in the third and final practice session of the weekend at Barcelona.

Lewis Hamilton, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, F1 2012 Spanish GP Practice

While Vettel was quick enough in the first two sectors with 23.0s and 31.3s; Hamilton was faster with 22.9s and 31.3s, but Hamilton encountered Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus and Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT going slowly in the final chicane and had to contend with 16th with a time of 1m 24.778s.

Pastor Maldonado clocked the second fastest time pushing Kamui Kobayashi to fourth. Mark Webber who seems to have found the balance in his car, was fourth and spoiled Sauber F1 Team’s party pushing Sergio Perez to fifth.

Jean-Eric Vergne, Scuderia Toro Rosso with engineer Andrea Landi  Spanish Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya

Jean-Eric Vergne, Scuderia Toro Rosso with engineer Andrea Landi, Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images

Alonso, who was fastest in FP 1 finished sixth just ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, STR-Ferrari, who was followed by Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg.