Button ahead in FP3 at Valencia
Jenson Button went fastest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the European GP. On the Valencian track, he made a single attempt on option tyres to improve Romain Grosjean's earlier time. Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest.
Early on in the session, it was again Pastor Maldonado who went fastest when everybody was still running in the harder prime tyres. With about 20 minutes left, most cars switched to the softer tyres with Grosjean initially emerging on top of the timesheet, ahead of Vettel, Senna, Kobayashi and Pérez.
5 minutes from the end, Button then topped Grosjean on his first run on the soft tyres. He was not challenged in the final 5 minutes, apart from Vettel who halfway through the lap went wide after the bridge and therefore returned slowly but without damage to the pits.
Mark Webber’s session ended in 19th place as the Australian, along with his Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov did not use the soft tyre.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:38.562 | - | 17 |
| 2 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:38.655 | 0.093 | 18 |
| 3 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:38.759 | 0.197 | 18 |
| 4 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:38.819 | 0.257 | 17 |
| 5 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:38.892 | 0.330 | 17 |
| 6 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:39.084 | 0.522 | 20 |
| 7 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:39.141 | 0.579 | 15 |
| 8 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.178 | 0.616 | 17 |
| 9 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:39.318 | 0.756 | 15 |
| 10 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:39.357 | 0.795 | 18 |
| 11 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:39.358 | 0.796 | 19 |
| 12 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:39.395 | 0.833 | 15 |
| 13 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:39.434 | 0.872 | 13 |
| 14 | 19 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:39.543 | 0.981 | 13 |
| 15 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:39.946 | 1.384 | 20 |
| 16 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Str-Ferrari | 1:40.037 | 1.475 | 17 |
| 17 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Str-Ferrari | 1:40.134 | 1.572 | 20 |
| 18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:40.681 | 2.119 | 15 |
| 19 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:41.282 | 2.720 | 4 |
| 20 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:41.931 | 3.369 | 15 |
| 21 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Hrt-Cosworth | 1:42.758 | 4.196 | 14 |
| 22 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:42.815 | 4.253 | 16 |
| 23 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | Hrt-Cosworth | 1:42.943 | 4.381 | 14 |
| 24 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:43.124 | 4.562 | 16 |
