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Unpredictable final British Practice sesson

Nico in thirteenth
By Andrew Hooper
July 5 2008
The final practice sesson for the 2008 British GP would be a unpredictable time for the teams with the track conditions rapidly changing from wet to dry during the session. For the Williams team Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima would finish in thirteenth and sixteenth positions but the order would rapidly change throughout the session. Qualifying will be a somewhat of an unknown once the Williams drivers take to the track.
 
 British GP Saturday Practice
 

With the AT&T Williams team having a good Friday practice with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima finishing in fifth and ninth the team was in a good position going into Saturday's practice and qualifying. With the circuit wet from rain and even though it was not raining the drivers would come out for their installation laps with their cars fitted with their race engines. The drivers were on the full wet weather tyres with the exception of Hamilton who was on intermediates. Both Nico and Kazuki would come out with only the Ferrari's remaining in their garages. Timo Glock would be the first driver to head back out but he would return to his pit leaving the track empty.

RosbergWith fifty minutes remaining Trulli would return to the track running on intermediates. He was joined by several other drivers. Trulli would set the first lap time with a 1m:38.410. Neither of the Williams drivers have left their garages. Alonso would move to the top of the times with a 1m:37.063 but just as quickly Trulli and Hamilton would move into first and second. Trulli with a time of 1m:36.766. Hamilton was now second with a 1m:36.947. Such were the conditions that the times were quickly falling with Alonso now fastest with a 1m:34.648, followed by Hamilton, Trulli, Bourdais, Vettel, Fisichella, and Piquet.

Nico was out on the circuit as Raikkonen and Kovalainen moved into second and third. But Piquet would take third with a 1m:34.829. Bourdais was now fastest with a 1m:34.076 followed by Vettel, Massa and Alonso now in fourth. Kovalainen was back in second with a 1m:34.211. As the times continued to fall Alonso now went fastest, 1m:32.998, but his time was beaten by Hamilton with a 1m:32.640. There were forty minutes remaining and Nico was down in tenth with a time of 1m:34.575. Kazuki was also out on the track but yet to set a time. Raikkonen was now second as Hamilton and Alonso both pitted. Both Red Bull cars had also yet to set a time. Massa was now third behind his team-mate, 1m:32.966. Nico was able to improve and moved up to eighth with a 1m:33.495.

Hamilton was leading from Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, Kovalainen, Bourdais, Vettel, and Nico. Nico would move ahead of Vettel with a 1m:33.430. Both Ferrari's continued to circulate around the track while most of the other drivers in the top ten had pitted. Nico was also out on the rack and would go fastest in the first sector. A dry line was starting to appear around the circuit as Massa would pit. Glock had moved into fifth with a 1m:33.037. Massa would quickly return to the track while his team-mate would pit. Kazuki was down in eleventh with a time of 1m:33.575. Webber was out on the track and would move into fourth with a 1m:32.954. Nico had pitted from ninth while Kazuki was still out on the track, currently in twelfth. Massa was now fastest with a 1m:31.577 with Coulthard now in second. They were able to benefit from a drying track.

With only a handful of drivers out on the circuit there was just under thirty minutes remaining in the session. Kazuki would spin his car at Farm chi but was able to continue returning to his pit. Only three drivers were on the track, one of them been Kubica who was way down the order in nineteenth. The track would continue to dry out as Glock was able to improve to now be in second, 1m:32.085, and Sutil in fourth, 1m:32.610. Kubica would move up to twelfth. Webber was back out on the track. Kubica would improve again this time moving up to fifth, 1m:32.627. Several other drivers had returned to the track, Nico among them. Nico and Kazuki were in twelfth and fifteenth.

NakajimaWebber was now in fourth, 1m:32.275, as Heidfeld would move to the top of the times with a 1m:27.300. Such were the conditions that again the times would continue to fall. Bourdais was now in second as Massa returned to the track. Heidfeld had set his time using a dry tyre. He would improve with a 1m:25.332. Nico had pitted most likely to change tyres. With just under fifteen minutes remaining most of the field were back out as Alonso went fastest with a 1m:25.187. He was passed by Massa with a 1m:24.913. But again the times tumbled and the order rapidly changes. Bourdais was now fastest from Piquet and Massa in third. Kazuki was back out on the track but Nico remained in his pit.

Alonso was now second as Heidfeld moved into fourth followed by Vettel. Nico and Kazuki were down in nineteenth and twentieth. Raikkonen was now fastest with a 1m:23.520. Kazuki would improve to now be in thirteenth, 1m:25.756. Massa was now second, 1m:23.813. Button was now in fourth as Glock went fastest with a 1m:23.470. But the Toyota driver would be passed by Vettel who went fastest followed by Webber, Alonso, Button, and Massa. It was all changing so rapidly. Nico was down in sixteenth with a time of 1m:26.149, one place behind Kazuki. Webber was now fastest with a 1m:22.281 with Vettel second followed by Glock. Both McLaren's were back out on the track as Webber improved with a 1m:21.806. With seven minutes left both Williams drivers had pitted.

Button was now in second, 1m:22.804, but on his first lap Hamilton would move past the Honda driver with a 1m:22.155. Kazuki was back out as Webber pitted. Kovalainen was now fastest with a 1m:21.266, running on the softer tyre. Hamilton was on the harder tyre. Nico was back out as Hamilton made it a McLaren one-two by moving ahead of Webber and into second, 1m:21.668. With the final minutes counting down the majority of the field were out on the track. Kazuki was now in ninth, 1m:23.047. The order was now Kovalainen followed by Hamilton, Webber, Bourdais, and Raikkonen who had moved into fifth. Piquet was now in third, 1m:21.786. Vettel was now in second with a 1m:21.277, as Alonso went fastest, 1m:20.740. Nico was down in twelfth and Kazuki sixteenth.

Webber was back up to second with a 1m:20.988 as the session came to an end. So the order was Alonso from Webber, Kovalainen, Vettel, Hamilton, Piquet, Bourdais, Glock, Raikkonen, and in tenth Barrichello. Nico had dropped down to thirteenth as Kazuki remained in sixteenth. It would be hard to draw any real conclusion on the performance of the Williams drivers based on the conditions and the drying track. So qualifying will be a somewhat of an unknown once the drivers take to the track.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:20.740 16
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:20.988 18
 3.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:21.266 14
 4.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:21.277 19
 5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:21.668 14
 6.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:21.786 14
 7.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:22.059 21
 8.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:22.183 21
 9.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:22.355 20
10.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:22.387 17
11.  Button        Honda                (B)  1:22.440 19
12.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:22.461 20
13.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:22.544 18
14.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:22.556 20
15.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:22.916 22
16.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:23.028 17
17.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.049 22
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.112 21
19.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:23.282 20
20.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:32.119 6
 

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Unpredictable final British Practice sesson
Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)
Date: 05/07/2008 10:28

Unpredictable final British Practice sesson

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