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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.
Nico 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. |