Belgian GP : Williams drivers outside top ten in FP3
Pastor Maldonado
By Andrew Hooper
August 27 2011
The final practice for the 2011 Belgian GRand Prix would see AT&T Williams F1 drivers Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello finish in 13th and 16th. The session, like Friday, was again run under wet conditions with the drivers starting on full wet tyres but later changing to intermediates. Qualifying will most likely be more of the same for the Williams team as well as the weather.
Belgian GP Saturday
Practice
The final
practice for the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix would commence with rain falling
and as the cars took to the track there would be plumes of spray coming from
the cars. As the rain increased the drivers would include their installation
laps, including both AT&T Williams F1 drivers Rubens Barrichello and Pastor
Maldonado. After ten minutes the track would fall silent as the rain started
to ease. Despite this there would be little chance of the track drying. A
few drivers would return to the track with nearly half the session
completed. Alguersuari would set a 2m:30.210 to set the first time. team-mate Buemi
would set a 2m:14.207 while Alguersuari would improve with a 2m:14.985.
More drivers would take to the track including Rubens and Pastor. Rubens
would pit without setting a time but Pastor's first time would be a
2m:21.430 to be fourth. Webber would go fastest with a 2m:14.143. Vettel was
now fourth from Senna and Petrov. Buemi had improve d but remained in second
as team-mate Alguersuari went fastest with a 2m:13.357. Buemi would also
improve to be fastest with a2m:13.306. Pastor was now in eighth with a time
of 2m:16.755. Sutil would move up to third, 2m:13.785, as Rubens remained in
the pits. Pastor would find extra pace setting a 2m:15.322 to be fifth. With twenty minutes
remaining Rubens would come out as both Buemi and Alguersuari pitted. Both
McLaren's remained in their pits as Kobayashi moved up to eighth. Petrov
would take sixth from Pastor with a time of 2m:15.096.
Sutil would go fastest with a time of 2m:13.231, but his team-mate Di Resta
would go faster with a 2m:12.955. Pastor would pit while Rubens was yet to
set a time. But on his first lap he would set a 2m:18.150 to be fourteenth.
Both Torro Rosso cars were back out on the track but we still had yet to see
times from the Ferrari's or McLaren's. Schumacher would move into second
with a 2m:13.199. Rubens was on a faster lap but he would pit prior to
setting a time. The track conditions were starting to get close to the point
where intermediates would be the right choice. Alguersuari would find time
to again be fastest with a 2m:11.045. Buemi was also on a quicker lap as
Schumacher improved with a 2m:12.984 to be third. Buemi would finish with a
2m:10.580.
Pastor and Rubens were now tenth and fifteenth with ten minutes remaining.
Alguersuari was again fastest with a 2m:09.948. Rosberg would return to his
pit with a right front puncture, currently in sixteenth. Both Red Bull cars
were out on the track, running on the intermediate tyre. Button was also out
on the track running on the intermediates. Button would move into second
with a time of 2m:10.257 while Vettel was now fourth. Alonso
was out on a slow lap as Massa remained in his pit. Webber would set a
2m:8.998 to be fastest while Hamilton's first effort would see him eighth.
So Webber was leading from Alguersuari and Button. Hamilton would move up to
fifth while for Williams Pastor was in thirteenth with a lap of 2m:14.934.
Vettel would pit while Sutil would move up to seventh.
As the final minutes of the session counted down Pastor would improve two
places to be eleventh with a 2m:13.074. Hamilton would improve to now be
second, 2m:09.046. With the end of the session as rain again started to fall
Webber would still be fastest from Hamilton, Alguersuari, Button, Vettel,
Buemi, Rosberg, Sutil, Senna, and Schumacher in tenth. Pastor would finish
in thirteenth while Rubens would be in thirteenth. Again Pastor had been
able to finish ahead of his more experienced team-mate in what were
difficult conditions. As for qualifying it was looking more than likely that
it would be run under wet conditions.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. M Webber Red Bull-Renault 2m08.988s 7
2. L Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 2m09.046s 8
3. J Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2m09.931s 16
4. J Button McLaren-Mercedes 2m10.257s 7
5. S Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2m10.402s 9
6. S Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2m10.580s 15
7. N Rosberg Mercedes 1m10.837s 12
8. A Sutil Force India-Mercedes 2m11.437s 13
9. B Senna Renault 2m11.664s 14
10. M Schumacher Mercedes 1m11.667s 10
11. P di Resta Force India-Mercedes 2m11.874s 13
12. H Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 2m13.036s 15
13. P Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 2m13.074s 12
14. K Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 2m13.182s 12
15. V Petrov Renault 2m13.290s 15
16. R Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 2m13.778s 12
17. S Perez Sauber-Ferrari 2m14.334s 14
18. J Trulli Lotus-Renault 2m14.682s 11
19. J D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 2m17.159s 12
20. T Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2m18.039s 10
21. D Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 2m19.001s 12
22. T Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 2m19.001s 14
23. F Massa Ferrari 2m19.597s 7
24. F Alonso Ferrari no time 5
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