Hungarian Practice Three: Rosberg third


Nico Rosberg

By Andrew Hooper
July 25 2009

After the final practice session for the 2009 Hiungarian Grand Prix AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg would finish in an encouraging third but for team-mate Kazuki Nakajima his sesssion would see him way down the times. It was only when he ran on the softer tyre that he was able to move up to eighth. Qualifying should see Nico make it into Q3 but it may be more difficult for Kaazuki.

 
 Hungarian GP Saturday Practice
 

After finishing Friday practice at the Hungaroring with their drivers in third and fifth the AT&T Williams team had a positive start to the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. Team driver Nico Rosberg felt that there was more to come from the FW31 so it will be interesting to see the results in Saturday practice and qualifying. Rain had fallen on the circuit overnight and the conditions were somewhat colder and windier as the drivers took to the track on
their installation laps. Nico Rosberg would come out early and was shortly after joined by Kazuki Nakajima.

RosbergThe drivers would return to their pits including Nico. Barrichello was the only driver to take to the track but would venture out as all the other drivers weer now back in their garages. Barrichello would come back in leaving the track empty. While their mechanics worked on their cars both Williams drivers remained strapped in. Ten minutes of the session was completed and no times had been set. Trulli would be the first car to return to the track, running on the harder tyres. He was joined by Glock, Alguersuari, and Nico. Fisichella and Sutil were also out on the track. Alonso and Raikkonen were next out with fifteen minutes of the session completed.

Trulli would set the first time with a 1m:30.122. Glock was faster with a 1m:25.815. Nico was running on the harder tyre and would go fastest with a 1m:25.764. Glock was second followed by Fisichella and Alguersuari. Alonso was now fastest with a 1m:25.577 as Sutil moved into sixth. Glock would pit with a hydraulic problem as Nico returned to the top of the times with a 1m:24.473. Buemi was second, 1m:24.928, followed by Alonso, Sutil, Piquet, Heidfeld, Glock, Alguersuari, Trulli, and Fisichella.

Nico would improve with a 1mL:23.659 as Raikkonen moved into second. It was all changing as Buemi went fastest with a 1m:23.633. Alonso was third followed by Piquet, Sutil, and Raikkonen. Kazuki was now on the track and was fourteenth as Frank Williams watched on from the Williams garage. Nico was again fastest with a 1m:23.443. Sutil was now third as Kovalainen went fastest with a 1m:23.343. Everyone was on the harder tyre with both Toyota's
in the pits along with Alguersuari. Buemi was still in third followed by Raikkonen, Sutil, Alonso, Vettel, Piquet, Button, and Barrichello in tenth. Kazuki was down in sixteenth with a time of 1m:24.610.

NakajimaNico would pit while Buemi went fastest but was passed by Kovalainen with a 1m:22.833. The Brawn cars would improve with Barrichello and Button third and fourth. Hamilton was now fastest with a 1m:22.280, followed by Kovalainen, Buemi, Barrichello, Sutil, Button, Nico, Raikkonen, Kubica, and Webber in tenth. Kazuki was now fifteenth but would improve to be twelfth, 1m:23.717. Nico was now eighth, 1m:23.443, as Webber moved up to sixth, 1m:23.222. Button and Barrichello were now forth and fifth with half the session completed. Kubica would improve with a 1m:22.803 to be second. Only a handful of drivers were left on the track with Kazuki joining Nico in his pit.

Massa was now fifth, 1m:22.881, and on his next lap despite going fastest in sector one would remain in fifth. Trulli would improve to be twelfth, 1m:23.567. Alguersuari was out on the softer tyre with only three drivers on the track. Alguersuari would improve with a 1m:23.500 to be eleventh. Glock's session was over as his mechanics started to repair his car with the gearbox and rear wing assembly off the car. Raikkonen was on the track joined by both Brawn cares, Nico, Sutil, Piquet, and Fisichella. Alguersuari was now second, 1m:22.652, while Nico and Kazuki were down in eleventh and sixteenth.

Buemi was now fifth while Alguersuari had improved his time with a 1m:22.487. More drivers were returning out on the track with just over twenty minutes left in the session. Nico was able to find some pace moving up to third with a 1m:22.755. Alonso was now second, 1m:22.369, as Alguersuari pitted. Nico was still on the harder tyre as Barrichello and Button moved in fourth and fifth. Nico was now sixth while Kazuki was down in nineteenth. Alonso's time was on the softer tyres as Buemi moved up to fourth, 1m:22.547. Alonso was now
fastest with a 1m:22.274 followed by Hamilton, Alguersuari, Buemi, Barrichello, Button, Nico, Kubica, and Kovalainen in tenth.

RosbergSutil would go off the track at Turn eight damaging the front of his car. He had run wide on the previous corner getting dirt on his tyres and would run off the track at the next corner. Hamilton was again fastest with a 1m:22.074 and Alonso second. Alguersuari was back out on the track with fourteen minutes remaining. Kovalainen, running on the harder tyre, would jump up to third with a 1m:22.414. Kazuki was back in his garage not looking very good so far in the session. As the drivers looked at their qualifying pace Massa would be the first driver into the 1m:21's with a 1m:21.911 to go fastest. Massa was on the super soft tyre for his quick time.

Hamilton was still second from Alonso, Alguersuari, Kovalainen, Barrichello, Buemi, Webber, Button, and Nico in tenth. Nico was back out on the track with seven minutes left in the session. Barrichello was now third, 1m:22.101, while Buemi was fourth. Nico was now fastest in the middle sector and would move up to second with a 1m:21.565. Hamilton was fastest with a 1m:21.502. The circuit was now very busy as the drivers looked for a clear piece of track. Kazuki was now slowest with a 1m:23.717 while Glock was back out after his mechanics
sorted out his problem. Kazuki would improve to be eleventh, 1m:22.493, while Nico would drop down to third as Heidfeld moved into second.

Glock was now fifth, 1m:21.849, while Kazuki would improve to be eighth. Trulli had moved up to tenth as Hamilton improved with a 1m:21.009 to remain quickest. Kovalainen was on the softer tyre and was able to move up to fourth, 1m:21.655. Nico was still in third as the session came to an end. Kazuki was in eighth so we had both Williams drivers in the top ten. The order was Hamilton from Heidfeld, Nico, Kovalainen, Buemi, Glock, Massa, Kazuki, Webber,
and Vettel in tenth. Another strong performance from Nico but Kazuki appeared to have a difficult session remaining off the pace for the majority of the session. It will be interesting to see how he performs in qualifying.

 
Pos  Driver        Team			     Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:21.009 19
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:21.408 23
 3.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:21.509 21
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:21.655 20
 5.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:21.800 23
 6.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:21.849 12
 7.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:21.911 19
 8.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:21.935 19
 9.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:21.936 16
10.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:21.971 21
11.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:22.076 20
12.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:22.097 25
13.  Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:22.101 22
14.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:22.210 17
15.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:22.270 20
16.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:22.274 19
17.  Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:22.312 22
18.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:22.391 20
19.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:22.684 23
20.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:23.231 16

 

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Hungarian Practice Three: Rosberg third
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