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Friday practice
for the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix had seen Williams F1 drivers Pastor
Maldonado and Bruno Senna finish in thirteenth and seventeenth. Now it was
Saturday and as the team prepared for the final practice session Williams F1
engineer Xevi Pujolar would comment that managing the rear tyres would be a
challenge for Sunday's Grand Prix. He added that the Friday practice saw the
Williams team working on race pace and that in FP3 they will do qualifying
preparations. On the front wing supports the Williams team had placed a
small tribute to Professor Sid Watkins who was the FIA medical director.
With the start of the session there would be a rush of drivers taking to the
track with Raikkonen first out. Bruno would be first out for Williams
followed shortly after by Pastor. The soft tyre was the early choice as the
drivers completed their installation laps. Bruno would pit but Pastor would
continue on a second lap. Alonso and Rosberg would be the last to leave the pits. Everyone was back in the pits as the
sun started to fall. Kobayashi would be back out joined by Perez. Other
drivers to come out included Raikkonen, Glock, Pic, Grosjean, and
Karthikeyan. Hulkenberg would be next out with just over forty five minutes
remaining. Ricciardo would leave the pits followed by Vergne. Kobayashi
would set a 1m:56.339 but Perez would beat this with a 1m:53.669. Raikkonen
would go fastest with a 1m:52.594. Grosjean was now fourth as the times
started to fall.
Kobayashi would improve with a 1m:52.594 to be second. Perez would again
move ahead of his team-mate with a 1m;53.020 as Hulkenberg went fastest with
a time of 1m:52.534. But as the times fell Raikkonen would go fastest with a
1m:52.018 as Grosjean went second with a 1m:52.400. Ricciardo was now sixth
as Bruno took to the track. Hulkenberg was again fastest with a 1m:51.201.
Pastor was now also out on the track joining Bruno. Both McLaren's were on
the track with Button going second fastest with a 1m:51.233. Yet to come out
weer Vettel and Alonso with Alonso's car been worked on by his mechanics. Schumacher was now third with
a 1m:51.935 with Bruno on his first timed lap. Di Resta was up to third,
1m:51.902 while Bruno was now ninth with a time of 1m:53.289. Hamilton would
move to the top of the times with a 1m:50.730. Rosberg was now fourth,
1m:51.387, while Pastor's first time saw him eleventh, 1m:53.288, and Bruno
now twelfth.
Hulkenberg would improve his time with a 1m:51.141 but remained second. Both
Lotus cars had pitted as Hulkenberg also found further time with a
1m:50.804. Button was now fastest with a 1m:50.524. Hamilton was on a
quicker lap setting a 1m:50.223 to again be fastest. Despite going down an
escape road Webber would get it together and would set a 1m:50.362 to be
second. Vettel had come out and would set a 1m:50.594 to be fourth. Both
Williams drivers had also improved their times with Pastor now sixth with a
1m:51.012 and Bruno eighth with a 1m:51.554. Webber and Button had pitted as Bruno again found time with a 1m:50.887 to be sixth and
Pastor now seventh. Pastor had pitted as both Hamilton and Vettel were on
quick laps. Hamilton would pit while Vettel would move up to second with a
1m:50.273. So with thirty minutes remaining it was Hamilton from Vettel,
Webber, Button, Hulkenberg, Bruno, Pastor, Rosberg, Di Resta, and Schumacher
in tenth.
Raikkonen and Grosjean were down in twelfth and thirteenth while the
Ferrari's of Alonso and Massa weer currently slowest. But on a quick lap
Alonso would go fastest with a time of 1m:50.075. Vettel would move ahead of
the Ferrari with a 1m:49.614 while Massa was now sixth, 1m:50.600. Bruno and
Pastor were now in eighth and ninth. Glock had stopped out in the final
sector meanwhile Sauber worked on the car of Perez that had hit the barrier
earlier on in the session. Both Williams drivers were back out along with
many others. Alonso had found time with a 1m:49.968. Both Vettel and Alonso
had pitted with Bruno now eighth but Pastor had dropped to tenth. Raikkonen
split the two Williams cars. Pastor was still on the soft tyre for his
second run while Bruno was on the super soft, being the first driver to make
use of them. Bruno would make use of his softer tyres setting a 1m:49.715 to
be second. This was an improvement of 1.1 seconds.
Webber would hit the wall in the tunnel getting a puncture and seeing him
pit. With fifteen minutes remaining their were only a handful of drivers out
on the track. Bruno would pit while other teams got ready to come out on the
super soft tyre. Pastor had also now pitted as Vettel came back out joining
Hulkenberg and Kobayashi. Vettel leads the field with a best lap of 1m:49.614, with Senna second, Alonso
third, Webber fourth, Hamilton fifth and Button sixth. Vettel was on a quick
lap as Alonso also came out while Hulkenberg had pitted. Vettel was fastest
in the first two sectors and would finish his lap with a 1m:47.947 to be 1.7
seconds ahead of Bruno in second. Massa, Raikkonen, Vergne and Perez were also out on the track as the light started
to fall and the lights took over. Button would also leave the pits.
Both Ferrari's were on quick laps with Alonso moving up to second with a
1m:48.623. Bruno was now third but as more drivers use the option tyre he
may not stay there for long. Everyone was back out even Webber. Raikkonen
was now third with a 1m:48.865. Both Pastor and Bruno were out on the track
as Hamilton started a quick lap. Vettel would pit as everyone else were on
personal bests. Hamilton would set a 1m:48.272 to be second. Alonso was now
third with Hulkenberg now fourth. Di Resta as seventh and Bruno eighth.
Three minutes remaining as Vettel came back out and Alonso pitted. Pastor was now sixteenth while the session would be stopped
with Petrov's car stopped at the pit entry with a broken right rear
suspension. Petrov had hit the wall at Turn twenty one as he opened his DRS.
This would ruin a large number of drivers final laps as they were forced to
pit, including both Williams drivers.
The session would come to an end seeing Vettel fastest from Hamilton,
Alonso, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Massa, Di Resta, Rosberg, Bruno, and
Schumacher in tenth. Pastor would remain in sixteenth but this position was
not a true reflection of his ultimate pace as he could not complete a lap on
the super soft tyre. |
