F1 Italian Grand Prix: Vettel continues to set the pace in practice three

Triple world champion Sebastian Vettel continued to set the pace for Red Bull Racing by setting the fastest time in the third free practice session for the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The defending F1 champion's time of 1:24.360 was 0.283 seconds faster than Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Vettel's Australian teammate Mark Webber was third fastest ahead of Mercedes AMG's Lewis Hamilton, McLaren's Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, the second McLaren of Jenson Button, Williams F1's Pastor Maldonado and Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus F1.

The second Lotus F1 of Romain Grosjean was in 17th as the team evaluated the use of a longer wheelbase E21 for the race. A technical problem caused Mercedes AMG's Nico Rosberg to sit in the garage with just five laps of running as the majority of the field completed in the region of 20 laps over the course of the 60 minute session.

Vettel will be gunning for his fourth pole position of the season. If successful in doing so, the German will remain the only driver on the F1 grid to record a pole position this year aside from Mercedes AMG's Hamilton and Rosberg.

The German squad is currently second in the constructors standings after Red Bull Racing with three wins between its two drivers.