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After having to
cope with technical problems on the Friday, that saw both Nico and Kazuki
struggle to set competitive lap times, the AT&T Williams team would return
to the track for the final Saturday practice session hoping to put these
issues behind them. Nico would be the first car out onto the track, joined
by about half the field for their installation lap. Kazuki would be amongst
them.
With ten minutes of the session complete several drivers including Trulli,
Fisichella, Glock, Kubica, Bourdais, Sutil, and Heidfeld would return to the
track. First to set a lap time would be Bourdais with a 1m:29.366. Davidson
was second with a 1m:33.744. The only driver yet to come out was Raikkonen.
Heidfeld would go fastest with a 1m:29.0812 but Bourdais would move ahead of
the BMW with a 1m:28.401. Both Nico and Kazuki would back out with just
under forty five minutes remaining.
Kubica was now fastest, 1m:28.256. Bourdais and Davidson would pit.
Raikkonen had completed his installation lap. Fisichella was fourth but
team-mate Sutil would take this spot. Kubica would improve with a 1m:28.187,
as Glock moved into second. Nico's first lap would see him fastest with a
1m:27.985. Vettel was now second. Heidfeld had pitted. Glock was now
fastest, 1m:27.739, as Kimi would move into second on his first lap. Nico's
time was four tenths faster than his Friday time. Kazuki would move ahead of
Raikkonen but it would be Massa who was now fastest, 1m:27.709.
So we had Kazuki and Nico in third and fifth. Neither McLaren had returned
to the track. Alonso would go fastest, 1m:27.487, only to see Raikkonen move
ahead of him and then Nico move into the top spot with a 1m:27.196. All the
drivers were running on the harder option of Bridgestone tyre. Alonso was
now again fastest with a 1m:27.167 as Nico pitted. Kazuki was now in fourth,
1m:27.601 as he also returned to the pit lane. On his first timed lap
Hamilton would have an off-track moment but was able to continue. Massa was
in fifth. Webber had improved to move into seventh, 1m:28.025.
Hamilton's first timed lap would see him in fourth, 1m:27.509. Only four
drivers had yet to set a time. With just over half and hour remaining the
order was Alonso from Nico, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kazuki, Massa, Glock,
Webber, Bourdais, and in tenth Vettel. Trulli was the only driver yet to set
a time and was still in his pit. Heidfeld would improve to now be in eighth,
1m:27.934. Nico was back out for his second run, joined by Kazuki.
Kovalainen was down in fifteenth. Vettel would improve to be fifth,
1m:27.517. Hamilton and Raikkonen would join the Williams pair. Alonso was
also back out. Fisichella had improved to be in ninth.
Vettel would pit. Raikkonen would by the barest of margins move ahead of
Alonso, 1m:27.163. Nico was now in third and Kazuki sixth. Kovalainen was
down in eleventh as team-mate Hamilton pitted from fourth. Nico would also
pit. Kazuki had also pitted. Massa would improve to now be in fourth,
1m:27.355. After been at the bottom of the times Coulthard would move into
fifth, 1m:27.507. Trulli would move into tenth only to improve to fourth on
his next lap, 1m:27.220. Nico was still in third but Kazuki had dropped to ninth.
Slowest were the two Super Aguri's of Sato and Davidson. With under fifteen
minutes remaining Vettel would go fastest, 1m:26.663. Webber was now second,
1m:26.833. It looked like they were probably on a qualifying practice lap.
Bourdais had moved into ninth. This would become tenth as Fisichella moved
into second, 1m:26.698. Fisichella had used the softer tyre for his run.
Nico had left the pit lane with under ten minutes remaining. Button was next
to set a qualifying time with a 1m:26.971 to be in fourth. There was only a handful
of cars on the track as Glock moved into fifth, 1m:27.162. Nico was on a
quick lap, fastest in sector two. He would move to the top of the times with
a 1m:26.171. This was 0.492 faster than Vettel.
Vettel was back out along with Hamilton, Kazuki and a rush of drivers with
under five minutes left in the session. Nico would pit as Trulli moved in to
fifth. Both Ferrari's had left the pit lane. Alonso was on a quick lap. His
time of 1m:26.082 would see him move ahead of Nico by 0.089. Only three
drivers were in the pits while the rest looked to improve. Kazuki would pit
from sixteenth. Heidfeld was now fastest with a 1m:25.950, improving from
eighteenth. Kubica was now fastest with a 1m:25.613. As the session came to
an end Coulthard and Webber were in fifth and sixth. Hamilton had pitted
from twelfth.
Massa and Raikkonen were in eleventh and fourteenth, in somewhat of a
surprising position for the Ferrari's. As the drivers returned to the pit
lane Nico was in fourth but team-mate Kazuki was down in a disappointing
nineteenth. Overall it was a session that failed to see some of the big
names to set competitive times, in particular the fact that neither McLaren
or Ferrari was in the top ten. |