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With the AT&T
Williams team finishing Friday practice in first and second, with Nico
Rosberg leading Kazuki Nakajima, Saturday practice would give the Williams
team a further opportunity to assess their performance. Most teams had found
the softer Bridgestone tyre durable in the conditions while the harder tyre
was more difficult to get grip from. It would be interesting to see what
strategies the Williams team would come up with. The session would get
underway with the drivers, including Nico and Kazuki, completing their
installation lap.
Everyone would complete their lap and with ten minutes of the session
complete it would be Glock who would set the first lap time, a 1m:25.987.
Glock would improve with a 1m:24.640. Team-mate Trulli was also out on the
track and would go fastest with a 1m:24.512. Glock would lower his time by a
fraction with a 1m:24.635. Kubica would move from third to first with a time
of 1m:23.741. Team-mate Heidfeld was now second while Alonso would move to the top of the
times with a 1m:23.261. Alonso was on the harder tyre. Both Nico and Kazuki
were also out on the track as Raikkonen, on the harder tyre, moved into
fourth. Alonso would improve his time with a 1m:23.074.
As the track became busier it would be Massa who would move to the top of
the times with a 1m:22.387. Team-mate Raikkonen would move up to second
pushing Buemi to third. Kazuki, 1m:23.263, was in eighth while Nico,
1m:23.352, was in ninth. Both Ferrari's would pit briefly with just over
thirty minutes left in the session. Barrichello was in fourth followed by
Vettel, Hamilton, Bourdais, Alonso, Kazuki, and in tenth Nico. Fisichella
had spun his Force India between Turn seven and eight but was able to continue. Both Williams drivers would pit
joined by most of the field as we had Heidfeld crash his BMW heavily at Turn
twelve. He was able to get out of his car but it was badly damaged in the
front left corner.
After his car was removed drivers would return to the track. Nico was back
out while Alonso continued on the harder tyre. Nico was currently in twelfth
and Kazuki tenth. Nico would improve one place to be eleventh, 1m:23.294. At
the front Barrichello would split the Ferrari's moving into second with a
1m:22.483. Buemi was now third with a 1m:22.565. Barrichello was now fastest
with a 1m:21.906 while Vettel moved into second. Raikkonen would move ahead
of Vettel with a 1m:21.928. Massa would join Kimi at the top setting the
fastest time with a 1m:21.547, running on the harder tyre.
Some drivers would start their soft tyre runs with Bourdais moving up to
fifth from tenth. Fisichella was sixth while Bourdais improved with a
1m:22.044 but remained fifth. Glock would move to the top of the times with
a 1m:21.419 using the soft tyre. Raikkonen was able to move to fifth using
the harder tyre. Nico would make a mistake at the Campsa corner running wide
onto the access road. He was able to continue as Glock lowered his time with a 1m:21.377.
Button was now second with a 1m:21.466. Button's time was on the harder
tyre. Massa was now third followed by Hamilton, using the softer tyre,
Raikkonen, Webber, Kovalainen, Barrichello, Piquet, and Vettel in tenth.
Kazuki was now thirteenth while Nico had dropped way down the order to be
seventeenth. With the final six minutes counting down the drivers would
return to the track for their final practice qualifying runs. Both Kazuki
and Nico had returned to the track. Everyone was back out on what was now a
very busy track. Massa would return to the top of the times on a soft tyre
run, 1m:20.533. Raikkonen would join on in second with a 1m:20.635. Button
was now third followed by Barrichello. Raikkonen would improve with a
1m:20.635 to be just behind Massa. Kubica would move up to fifth followed by
Trulli, Hamilton, and Glock in eighth. Buemi had been able to move from
fifteenth to ninth.
Nico would finish the session in twelfth while Kazuki was down the order in
eighteenth with a 1m:22.043. Nico's time was a 1m:21.594. Both Nico and
Kazuki had struggled with traffic as they tried to set a better time.
Neither driver was able to better their Friday times. Based on their Friday
results this was not the result that the Williams team had hoped for as they
prepare for qualifying. |