Practice 3: Webber fastest thrills home fans

Mar.27 (YF1 & GMM) Australian race fans will have been thrilled by their local favourite Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) who clocked the fastest time in the final practice ahead of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Melbourne’s weather conditions are cooler, windier and darker than on Friday, and a forecast on the TV monitor in the media centre said showers are possible on Saturday for the time of qualifying.

Webber set the fastest lap of the entire weekend so far, he a best time of 1 minute 24.719 seconds with a few minutes left in the session, a lap earlier he was the first driver to dip below the 1 minute 25 seconds mark. This was fractionally faster than Bahrain GP winner Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari.

Comeback champion Michael Schumacher, competing in his 250th GP weekend, was third fastest and the only other driver, apart from Webber and Vettel, to break into the who was also in the 1 minute 24 seconds zone. Clearly the seven times F1 world champion enjoying race two, of his return, more than the first one in Bahrain two weeks ago.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel fourth on the timing screens with Schumacher’s team-mate Nico Rosberg in  fifth, ahead of McLaren Mercedes pair of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

Saturday’s paddock abuzz with news of Hamilton’s brush with the local police, and the British media unsure whether to lambast or defend the 25-year-old, Webber cheekily advised the 2008 world champion to take some driving tips “from Tiger Woods”. But Australian GP organiser Ron Walker defended Hamilton: “He spends a lot of his time talking to young people about road safety. I think he can be forgiven for this indiscretion.”

Force India’s Adrian Sutil was eighth, with Felipe Massa (Ferrari) ninth and in tenth was Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India).

Massa was fastest early on in the session despite traffic. Thereafter Rosberg, Vettel and Schumacher all spent periods of time at the top of the timing screens.

Notably there were no Williams, Renault, Toro Rosso or Sauber drivers in the top ten, while six of the the fastest ten were Mercedes powered cars and all ten fastest were within a second of Webber’s fastest time.

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus) was fastest of the new team drivers, although almost five seconds slower than the fastest time.

Saturday, Practice 3 fastest laps