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Saturday at
Valencia would see blue skies and sunny conditions as the teams prepared for
the final hour long Saturday practice session for the 2011 European Grand
Prix. For the AT&T Williams F1 team Friday practice had seen Rubens
Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado finish in twelfth and thirteenth. Now it
was down to whether the team had been able to find any improvements
overnight. The track conditions would be warmer than
on Friday which may impact on their use of the medium and soft Pirelli
tyres. The sessio0n would get underway with Alguersuari first out. The Torro
Rosso driver would be looking to make up for last time after not been able
to get out in the second Friday practice.
He would be joined by a rush of drivers including both Renault's, both AT&T
Williams cars, both Ferrari's, and both of the Sauber's. Just as quickly the
drivers would return to their pits after their installation laps. Vettel
would be the first of the Red Bull cars to come out followed by Webber
shortly after. Of the first group of drivers it would be Petrov who would
continue for a further lap. The last drivers to take to the track were the
McLaren's. Petrov would also return to his pit leaving Hamilton as the only
driver on the track. The drivers would be required to run without their
qualifying engine maps for this race. The track
was now empty with the drivers back in their pits. Pastor was still in his
car looking relaxed with a fan blowing on him.
Twelve minutes of the session had been completed before we saw D'Ambrosio
and Trulli return to the track. They were joined by Karthikeyan and Glock.
More drivers would come out including Perez, Alguersuari, and Liuzzi.
Schumacher would be the first big name to come out while for Williams Pastor
would come out. D'Ambrosio would set a 1m:46.910 while Trulli set a
1m:45.364. Now we had both Renault's come out as Glock moved into second,
1m:45.903. Perez was now fastest with a 1m:42.692 but quickly Alguersuari
would set a 1m:42.477 to be fastest. Rubens was now out on the track with
forty two minutes remaining. Kobayashi was now second, 1m:42.530, as
Hamilton came out. Perez would improve to be second, 1m:42.513, while
Schumacher was tenth after a slow lap.
Pastor's first lap would see him in fourth, 1m:42.973, but this would become
fifth as Heidfeld went fastest with a 1m:41.903. It was changing rapidly as
Buemi went second while Di Resta was sixth. Pastor was now seventh with
Rubens yet to set a time. Schumacher was now eighth as Pastor moved into
second with a 1m:42.181. Buemi and Alguersuari were third and fourth. Rubens
was down in eighteenth after a slow lap, 2m:03.350. Heidfeld would improve
with a 1m:41.112 to remain fastest. Schumacher was now second followed by
Petrov, Sutil, and Alguersuari. Pastor was sixth and back in his pit. Rubens
was still down the order with a 1m:46.858. Now it was Massa's turn to be
fastest with a 1m:40.891, but Alonso would move ahead with a lap of
1m:39.743. Rosberg was up to second, 1m:40.780, followed by Massa and
Schumacher. Heidfeld would find further time to be second, 1m:40.754.
Rosberg was now third from Massa and Schumacher. Pastor had dropped to
fourteenth while Rubens was on the pace setting a 1m:41.617 to be ninth.
Rubens would pit with thirty four minutes left in the session. Hamilton was
now in sixth, 1m:41.379, with Sutil seventh and Petrov eighth. The medium
tyre was the tyre of choice for these first runs as Massa set a 1m:40..08 to
again be second. Rosberg would also improve with a 1m:40.605, to be third.
Now it was the turn of Button to move up to the top of the times setting a
1m:40.069
to be third. A 1m:39.506 from Alonso as Rosberg set a 1m:40.182 to be
fourth. Pastor was now fifteenth and Rubens tenth. Vettel was now up to
fifth, 1m:40.217, while Button was on a quick lap setting quick times in the
opening two sectors. His final sector would see him fail to go fastest but
he would move into second with a 1m:39.529.
Webber was now in third with a lap of 1m:39.738. Rubens back out on the
track, currently in twelfth. Vettel would easily move ahead of Alonso with a
1m:38.999 while Button was third. Webber was now second with a 1m:39.285,
followed by Alonso, Button, Massa, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Hamilton, Schumacher,
and Sutil in tenth. Pastor was now also out on the track as Vettel improved
with a 1m:38.694. Despite Webber's improved time Vettel was still 0.591
faster than his team-mate. Perez was now in fifth running on the softer
tyre, 1m:39.778. Schumacher was also on the option tyre as Alguersuari also
set an improved time on the soft tyre, 1m:40.348, to be ninth. Schumacher
was up to second, 1m:38.799. Rubens was down in fourteenth and Pastor
eighteenth. The track was very busy now with twenty minutes remaining.
Kobayashi was now seventh, 1m:39.848, while Rosberg was on the soft tyre and
was on a very quick lap.
Buemi was now eighth, 1m:39.88. Rosberg would finish his lap going fastest
with a 1m:38.580. Rubens and Pastor were now in sixteenth and seventeenth.
Petrov was in fifteenth as more drivers returned to their pits getting ready
for their qualifying simulations. Pastor was still running on the medium
tyre and both Williams drivers returned to their pits with sixteen minutes
left in the session. Massa was out on the soft tyre running quickly. He
would finish his lap with a 1m:38.277 to be fastest. Alonso was out on the
track, currently in sixth. Alonso was also on the soft tyre as both Williams
drivers had soft tyres put on. Alonso would move ahead of Massa with a
1m:37.678. So had a Ferrari one-two as other drivers started to return to
the track. Massa was also finding time setting a new fastest time in the
final sector, 1m:37.840. He would remain second as we had both Renault's out
on the track.
Button would leave the pits on the option tyre with ten minutes remaining.
Rubens was also back on the track for his soft tyre run. Hamilton would join
Button as Button and Heidfeld started quick laps. Heidfeld would move up to
sixth, 1m:39.113, while Button would set a 1m:38.326 to now be in third. The
track was again very busy with Pastor also back out. Rubens would set a
1m:40.093 to now be in thirteenth. Not a big improvement from the Williams
driver. Pastor would move ahead of Rubens with a 1m:40.004 to be thirteenth
and Rubens fourteenth. We now only had the two Renault's and Massa in their
pits. As more drivers improved Pastor and Rubens would drop to fifteenth and
sixteenth.
Webber was now third with a 1m:38.068. Vettel was on his qualifying run
going fastest in sector one and two. He would finish with a 1m:37.258 to be
0.420 ahead of Alonso. Two minutes left in the session as Rubens would move
back ahead of Pastor with a 1m:39.987. But Rubens and Pastor were still way
down the order. Petrov would move up to ninth, 1m:38.822, as the session
came to an end. Rubens would pit with Rubens and Pastor in sixteenth and
seventeenth. Vettel was still fastest from Alonso, Massa, Webber, Button,
Rosberg, Hamilton, Schumacher, Petrov, and Heidfeld in tenth. Based on their
pace in this session qualifying is going to be a real struggle for both
Williams drivers with the prospect of making it into Q3 looking very poor. |
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