Saturday, July 31, 2010

Prac Three: Another Red Bull show

Red Bull may have downplayed their pace on Friday afternoon but that didn't stop Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel from dominating Saturday's final practice.

Webber, who lost out to his team-mate on Friday in Hungary, posted a 1:19.574 to lead the way while Vettel was almost half a second off his team-mate's pace.

Once again it was Fernando Alonso who came the closest to challenging the Red Bull duo, however, the Ferrari driver was over a second slower than Vettel.
Robert Kubica, Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton were next in line on a sunny Saturday morning in Budapest.

Report: Despite the overnight rain, the Hungaroring was bone dry for the start of the weekend's final practice session - although there was plenty of cement dust down to absorb the oil dropped during the earlier Formula BMW race. It took over 15 minutes before the first lap time was set as Lucas di Grassi crossed the line with a 1:29.866. Lotus drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli lined up behind him with Sakon Yamamoto in fourth place.

Jaime Alguersuari was the next to lead the way with a 1:25.343. However, he was pipped by Nico Hulkenberg as the green track, coupled with cement dust, sent a few drivers sliding wide off the track, although with no major consequences at all. Mark Webber slotted into second place behind Hulkenberg.

Sebastian Vettel took control at the top of the timesheets with a full
house of purple sectors, which saw him post a 1:21.954. His reign, though, was short-lived as his team-mate overhauled him by 0.320s. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were both stuck in their respective garages as the session reached the halfway point.

Webber improved the benchmark time to a 1:21.087 while Lewis Hamilton climbed to third place, although a full second down on the Aussie's best time. Michael Schumacher took ninth place with Robert Kubica slotting into P10. Vettel took the P1 slot off his team=mate, a 1:20.966 for the German racer as Alonso finally completed his first lap time, moving up to third place behind the Red Bulls.

Another flier from vettel lowered the benchmark to a 1:20.261 while Nico Rosberg was the next to take the fight to the Bulls with Pedro de la Rosa moving up into fourth place and Felipe Massa fifth, ahead of Alonso. Hamilton again climbed the order, third best time for the McLaren driver and a much-improved performance compared to Friday's practice sessions.

Vitaly Petrov had a massive moment at Turn 12 and barely managed to keep his Renault away from the barriers. Bruno Senna spun his HRT at the penultimate corner as he struggled for grip on old tyres. Alonso moved back up into third place with Button taking fourth behind him.

Webber returned to the action with a deficit of eight-tenths to his team-mate. However, he dropped that to just 0.066s. Kubica was another to improve, moving up to fifth place.
Meanwhile, Webber put in a blistering 1:19.940 to overhaul Vettel at the
top of the timesheets.

The final few minutes saw the drivers switch to the softer option tyres as they tried their hands at qualifying runs. Button improved to fourth place but lost it to Petrov and then Hamilton. Rosberg took sixth place before being dropped as Kubica went fourth, Vettel caught a handful of traffic. He went on to improve his time but Webber did the same, ensuring he finished the session fastest of all.

Times:

01. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m19.574s 17 laps
02. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m20.058s + 0.484s 15 laps
03. Alonso Ferrari 1m20.724s + 1.150s 19 laps
04. Kubica Renault 1m21.066s + 1.492s 19 laps
05. Massa Ferrari 1m21.264s + 1.690s 16 laps
06. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.376s + 1.802s 17 laps
07. Petrov Renault 1m21.399s + 1.825s 15 laps
08. Rosberg Mercedes 1m21.422s + 1.848s 18 laps
09. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.473s + 1.899s 18 laps
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1m21.513s + 1.939s 18 laps
11. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m21.705s + 2.131s 19 laps
12. Schumacher Mercedes 1m21.939s + 2.365s 15 laps
13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.151s + 2.577s 21 laps
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.337s + 2.763s 20 laps
15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.427s + 2.853s 19 laps
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.508s + 2.934s 22 laps
17. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m22.918s + 3.344s 14 laps
18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1m23.708s + 4.134s 8 laps
19. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1m24.547s + 4.973s 19 laps
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1m24.576s + 5.002s 22 laps
21. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1m24.623s + 5.049s 22 laps
22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m24.805s + 5.231s 17 laps
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1m26.479s + 6.905s 21 laps
24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1m27.176s + 7.602s 21
laps

Source: Planet-f1

No comments: