Practice 3: Webber fastest ahead of qualy
3 April, 2010
Apr.3 (YF1) After a troubled first day at Sepang, which included an engine failure, Mark Webber will have boosted his confidence by topping the final free practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend.
The Red Bull driver, with a replacement Renault power plant bolted onto the back of his RB6, went top of the timing screens in the final stages of the session, bumping off Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) who had hogged top spot for most of the session. The Briton looking strong on a circuit that clearly suits the MP4-25.
Next up was Sebastian Vettel in the other Red Bull, the fastest trio within five hundredth of a second.
Fourth quickest was Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari who completed more laps, in the final session, than any of the top ten fastest drivers.
Michael Schumacher was quickest of the two Silver Arrows with the fifth quickest time, ahead of sixth fastest Nico Rosberg in the other Mercedes GP. Schumacher looking stronger in Malaysia than at the prior two Grand Prix.
Half a second down on Hamilton was Jenson Button (McLaren Mercedes) with the seventh best time, fractionally quicker than Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Rubens Barrichello (Williams) who ended eighth on the timing sheets.
Rounding up the top 10 was Robert Kubica (Renault) who was only 1.007 seconds off the leading pace.
For much of the hour teams were kept on their toes by heavy cloud cover that threatened rain to the point that teams were expecting the session to turn wet. However the storm glided past and deposited water elsewhere. Nevertheless rain is a distinct possibility anytime.
Free Practice 3 – 3 April 2010
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time/Retired | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 6 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:33.542 | 17 | |
| 2 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:33.559 | 0.017 | 14 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:33.587 | 0.045 | 17 |
| 4 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:33.751 | 0.209 | 19 |
| 5 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1:33.992 | 0.450 | 15 |
| 6 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1:34.090 | 0.548 | 13 |
| 7 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:34.113 | 0.571 | 16 |
| 8 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:34.174 | 0.632 | 15 |
| 9 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:34.540 | 0.998 | 13 |
| 10 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:34.549 | 1.007 | 17 |
| 11 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:34.623 | 1.081 | 11 |
| 12 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:34.673 | 1.131 | 19 |
| 13 | 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:34.882 | 1.340 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:34.957 | 1.415 | 16 |
| 15 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:35.026 | 1.484 | 16 |
| 16 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:35.076 | 1.534 | 17 |
| 17 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:35.477 | 1.935 | 18 |
| 18 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:36.404 | 2.862 | 19 |
| 19 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:37.299 | 3.757 | 15 |
| 20 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:37.369 | 3.827 | 16 |
| 21 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:38.161 | 4.619 | 18 |
| 22 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:38.783 | 5.241 | 13 |
| 23 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:39.868 | 6.326 | 19 |
| 24 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1:39.895 | 6.353 | 16 |
Related posts:
- F1 mirror ban delayed until Barcelona
- Practice 2: Hamilton untouchable on day one
- Practice 1: Hamilton fastest in the heat
- Malaysian GP Preview: Must win for Red Bull
- Chandhok: We have quite a big gap to bridge
