F1 Singapore Grand Prix: Vettel sets ominous third free practice pace

Red Bull Racing's defending Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in third practice for the F1 Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay street circuit ahead of Lotus F1 driver Romain Grosjean ahead of qualifying.

Vettel's time of 1:44.173 was 0.191 seconds faster than the Frenchman's time who looked set to record the best effort out of the F1 field before Vettel lapped faster.

Grosjean was trailed by Mercedes AMG's Nico Rosberg and Vettel's teammate Mark Webber who in turn outpaced Mercedes AMG's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

McLaren's Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber F1, McLaren's Jenson Button and Ferrari's Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten in the hot and humid practice session.

Grosjean's Lotus F1 teammate, and centre of much media attention for the past week, Kimi Raikkonen was a lowly 12th in the session. The Finn has often trailed Grosjean in practice to focus more on race pace while Lotus F1 uses Grosjean to help tweak its one lap pace.

Vettel's third free practice time is already over two seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton's pole position time of last year due to the turn 10 chicane at the 5.065 km long street circuit being modified.

The time is also over a second faster than Kimi Raikkonen's lap record set in the 2008 edition of F1's first ever night race.