Rosberg improves as Nakajima finds going difficult


Nico Rosberg

By Andrew Hooper
March 15 2008

Saturday practice for the 2008 Australian GP would see AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg improve from his Friday performance but for team-mate Nakajima the going would be difficult. Nico would finish the session in fourth, after been as high as first but for team-mate Kazuki the session would see him was down in a disappointing nineteenth. Qualifying will be a difficult time for the rookie driver.

 
 Australian GP Saturday Practice
 

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.

RosbergWith 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.

NakajimaSlowest 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.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:25.613 18
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:25.950 16
 3.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:26.082 14
 4.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:26.171 17
 5.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:26.385 14
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:26.407 17
 7.  Button        Honda                (B)  1:26.502 18
 8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:26.663 18
 9.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:26.682 18
10.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:26.882 11
11.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:27.020 19
12.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:27.084 14
13.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:27.162 15
14.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:27.163 17
15.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:27.284 13
16.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:27.333 18
17.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:27.489 18
18.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:27.578 17
19.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:27.601 15
20.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:27.992 15
21.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:28.363 13
22.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:28.912 15
 

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Rosberg improves as Nakajima finds going difficult
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 15/03/2008 01:37
Williams F1
15/03/2008 01:37
Rosberg improves as Nakajima finds going difficult

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