Singapore GP P3: Rosberg continues strong showing


Nico Rosberg

By Andrew Hooper
September 26 2009

AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg would continue his strong showing at the 2009 Singapore GP finishing third in the final practice session. Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima would finish in an encouraging eleventh. A positive performance from both Williams drivers as they prepare for tonight's qualifying. Nico should make it into the final period of qualifying while Kazuki is very close to the top ten.

 
 Singapore GP Saturday Practice
 

With AT&T Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima finishing in seventh and fifteenth after Friday practice there was room for improvement as they went into the final hour long Saturday practice. With the start of the session Vettel, fastest on Friday, would lead the field out for their installation laps. Both of the Brawn cars would wait sometime before taking to the race track. The drivers would return to their pits leaving just the two Brawn's to complete their lap. They would return to the pit lane leaving the track empty.

RosbergNico remained in his car and with ten minutes of the session run Fisichella would return to the track. Grosjean was next out followed by Buemi, Alguersuari and Raikkonen. Nico would take to the track as Alguersuari came to an end at the end of the pit lane when he tried a practice start. The marshals would finally push the car back into the pit lane and his mechanics would take him back to his garage. Fisichella had set a time 1m:58.445. Other drivers had left the pit lane including Button, Kubica, Barrichello, Sutil, Liuzzi, and Trulli. Grosjean was now fastest with a 1m:52.436 but Raikkonen moved ahead with a 1m:51.794.

Buemi was now second while Nico would move into third, running on the hard tyres, with a 1m:52.270. Kazuki had taken to the track as Alguersuari returned to the track. Liuzzi was sixth with a 1m:56.716. Raikkonen had improved with a 1m:50.347 as Sutil went second and Kubica third. Nico was now fastest with a 1m:50.134 with just the Red Bull cars still in their pits. With twenty minutes run Nico was fastest from Raikkonen, Sutil and now Kazuki in fourth. This would become fifth as Kubica went fastest with a 1m:49.679. Glock was sixth from Buemi, Button, Barrichello, and Liuzzi in tenth.

Webber was still in his pit as Raikkonen was stopped at Turn eighteen. He locked the brakes and decided not to try and make the corner. He was able to get going and return to the pits. Nico was again fastest with a 1m:49.447 with Kubica second from Kovalainen, Sutil, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Button, Glock, and Kazuki now in tenth. Kubica would improve to see him fastest with a 1m:49.434. Alonso was now third while Hamilton was on a quick lap moving to the top of the times with a 1m:48.346. Nico would pit while Barrichello moved into second. Nico was fourth and Kazuki was now fifth with a 1m:49.579. Kubica pitted while team -mate Heidfeld moved up to third. Kovalainen would move ahead of the BMW to be third, 1m:49.263.

Nico was now sixth while Button was up to seventh while Alonso was able to improve to be fifth, 1m:49.412. Webber had finally taken to the track while Kazuki would join Nico in the Williams pit. With just over half the session remaining there were only a handful of drivers still on the track while Webber moved into sixteenth. Team-mate Vettel was up to eleventh but this would become second with a time of 1m:49.154. Webber's next lap would see him in thirteenth. Only the Red Bull's and Hamilton were on the track with Grosjean coming back out while Hamilton pitted. Alguersuari would also come back out, joined by Raikkonen.

Nico would also come out with twenty six minutes of the session left. Kazuki would also come out along with more drivers. Nico was currently in eighth and Kazuki eleventh. Vettel would have an off track moment but was able to spin the car and keep going. The track was now very busy with Hamilton still fastest from Vettel, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Sutil, Heidfeld, Alonso, Kubica, Nico, and Button. Sutil had improved to be fifth with a 1m:49.280. Trulli was slowest while Nico had dropped to tenth while Kazuki had move dup to seventh with a 1m:49.358.

Sutil would make contact with the wall at Turn five while Glock would move up to third with a 1m:48.680. Nico was now fourth with a 1m:48.739. Kovalainen was now second while Vettel had dropped to seventh. Both Red Bull's had pitted while Barrichello moved up to fourth, 1m:48.735. Alonso was sixth while Hamilton would improve his time with a 1m:48.197. Nico was back out with fifteen minutes remaining. Nico's next alp would see him in second, 1m:48.332, while Trulli would move up to sixth, 1m:48.796. Nico was still on the harder tyre while the track would again be very quite as the drivers made their preparations for their qualifying practice runs.

We only had the two Ferrari's on the track but they were joined by Alguersuari and Vettel. The drivers were now coming out on the softer tyres with ten minutes left of the session. Grosjean was next out while Raikkonen moved up to seventh, 1m:48.864. Alguersuari would improve to be fourteenth while Vettel would put in a time of 1m:47.938 to go fastest. He would take a few tenths off his time with a 1m:47.909. Nico and Kazuki were out on the track with just over five minutes left. Only Heidfeld was in the pit lane as the rest of the field go down to their qualifying simulations.

Hamilton was now fastest in sector one, while Webber was now tenth. But it would go wrong for Hamilton when he took to the escape road at Turn eight. He was able to get going again while team-mate Kovalainen was now forth from Kubica, Barrichello, Glock, and Buemi. Kazuki was now sixteenth as those around him went faster. Heidfeld was now sixth as the session came to an end. Kazuki was able to improve moving up to eleventh, 1m:48.831, while the drivers started to return to their pits. Webber was in thirteenth followed by Button, and Alonso. So the order was Hamilton from Vettel, Nico, Kovalainen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Glock, Buemi, and in tenth Trulli.

An encouraging performance from both Williams drivers as they prepare for tonight's qualifying. Nico should make it into the final period of qualifying while Kazuki is very close to the top ten.

 
Pos  Driver       Team			     Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.632 15
 2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.909 17
 3.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:48.332 18
 4.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:48.420 14
 5.  Kubica       BMW Sauber            (B)  1:48.501 16
 6.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber            (B)  1:48.526 13
 7.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:48.551 16
 8.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:48.673 17
 9.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:48.754 17
10.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:48.757 12
11.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:48.831 17
12.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:48.864 16
13.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:48.876 15
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:48.921 17
15.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:49.032 15
16.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:49.055 16
17.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:49.122 17
18.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:49.399 17
19.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:49.641 16
20.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:50.039 21
 

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European P3: Rosberg continues strong showing
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