Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Third Practice Session
The third practice session before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was staged at the picturesque Yas Marina Circuit this evening. Just like Friday’s first two practices the Red Bull duo was once again fast and furious on the track.
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber reinstated the dominance of Red Bull, although the Friday’s second practice session saw McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton posting the fastest time.
The young German driver, Vettel set the fastest lap of the session with a time of one minute, 40.696seconds ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber, who was 0.133seconds behind. This time Hamilton settled behind the Red Bull duo in third place with his best time being one minute, 41.280seconds. He was still quick enough to stay ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Although Alonso was 0.6seconds adrift of his former team-mate and old foe, yet he was quite pleased with his pace. The Spaniard could have set a better time but he refused to go out for a late flying lap when the track offered better grip.
Although the other McLaren driver, Jenson Button, is out of the championship race, he was quick enough on the track unlike normal race Saturdays. However, just like Alonso, he also seemed capable of a better finish but called off earlier and did not complete his final two laps.
The Renault driver, Vitaly Petrov managed sixth place, while his team-mate Robert Kubica was only able to finish in ninth place.
The seven-time world Champion, Michael Schumacher marked his fastest lap with a run of one minute, 41.690seconds, followed by his team-mate, Nico Rosberg. Mercedes team boss, Ross Brawn expressed his hope to see both drivers giving their best finish of the season. Now this practice session brings hope for him to see the drivers do well in qualifying as well.
BMW Sauber driver, Nick Heidfeld, rounded off the top ten as the German ended his best lap with a time of one minute, 41.893seconds, followed by Williams’ driver, Nico Hulkenberg.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was once again off the pace and could only manage 12th place.
Rubens Barrichello has not done well in any of the sessions either and at the end of the third one, he only finished 13th place, ahead of BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi.
Both the Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi ended in 15th and 16th places followed by the duo of Lotus Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli.
Tags: