Belgian GP: Hulkenberg moves ahead of Barrichello in FP3

On a cloudy but sunny day the hour long third practice for the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix would get underway. For the AT&T Williams team they were happy with their efforts on Friday but they had room for improvement with Rubens Barrichello in ninth and Nico Hulkenberg in fifteenth. There was the usual rush of drivers taking to the track for their installation laps. Just as quickly the drivers would pit. Both Nico and Rubens would complete their lap and pit. Last to come out was Kovalainen in his Lotus while the last drivers to return to their pits were the Mercedes drivers.

With ten minutes of the session complete the track was empty but shortly after the drivers would start to come back out. This included Di Grassi, Buemi, Schumacher, and Petrov. Despite there being damp patches on the track slicks were in use. Alguersuari and Nico would come out, along with Sutil, Vettel, Hamilton, Trulli, Kobayashi, and Kubica. Rubens would also leave the pits as they track became very busy. Di Grassi would set a 1m:56.585 but Schumacher would go ahead with a 1m:53.027. But Buemi would go faster with a 1m:50.108. Schumacher would ask his team if the F-duct was working and his race engineer Andrew Shovelin would say that all is well. Nico would go fastest with a 1m:48.491 to be 1.6 seconds ahead of Buemi, but Hamilton would move ahead with a 1m:48.096.

Kubica was in third from Buemi and Alguersuari. Kobayashi would move into third, 1m:49.141, but with everyone out on the track Sutil would move into third, 1m:48.773. Nico was able to improve to go fastest with a 1m:47.564. Hamilton would improve with a 1m:47.666 but remained in second. Rubens was in ninth with a 1m:50.763 as at the front Vettel would go fastest with a 1m:47.526. Again it would change as Sutil went fastest with a 1m:47.472. But on his next lap Nico would again improve to be again fastest with a 1m:47.160. Sutil was second from Vettel, Hamilton, Kubica, and Rubens was now in sixth with a 1m:47.750. Kobayashi would jump up to fourth, 1m:47.474, while Vettel would move into second with a time of 1m:47.194. Nico would pit as De la Rosa jumped up to third but again it would change at the front as Kubica went fastest with a 1m:46.492.

Rubens would improve to now be in seventh, 1m:47.512, while Hamilton would move ahead of Kubica to be fastest with a 1m:46.315. Vettel was now third, 1m:47.103, but Alonso would move ahead with a 1m:47.012. Nico had now dropped to fifth while Rubens was now eleventh, 1m:47.512. Webber was now in fifth but this would become sixth as Massa moved up to third, 1m:46.962. Webber would improve to be third with a 1m:46.678 while for Williams Nico was back out on the track while Rubens had pitted. Nico was currently in eighth and Rubens thirteenth. With twenty seven minutes remaining Webber was on a quick lap and would move up to second with a 1m:46.440. Kubica was in third from Alonso, Massa, Vettel, Button, Nico who had improved to be eighth with a 1m:47.160.

There were reports that rain was on the way as the clouds started to roll over the circuit. Rubens was also back out on the circuit as Webber would go quickest with a 1m:46.106. With twenty three minutes remaining the track was very busy as more drivers took to the circuit with the option tyres. Only Trulli and Yamamoto were still in their pits. On the softer tyre Vettel would move up to third, 1m:46.396, while Button was on a quick lap looking to move up the order. He would finish with a 1m:46.397 to be fourth. Schumacher was currently last but he would improve to be fourteenth, 1m:47.833. Rubens was still thirteenth and back in his pit. Nico was ninth, 1m:47.160, while Webber would pit. Vettel was running very slowly in the pit lane entrance and would eventually be pushed by several marshals. Hamilton had set a 1m:46.223 to be second.

The rain was starting to fall seeing Nico back in his pit. With fifteen minutes remaining it would be surprising to see any further running. Vettel was back in his garage with his engine cover off and the team tried to sort out what the fault was. Rubens was still in his car as Alguersuari returned to the track with nine minutes remaining, running on intermediates. Trulli and Yamamoto would also come out joined by Buemi and Schumacher. Schumacher was on the full wet tyre as the final minutes counted down. Vettel was also out on the track and would pit after checking his car after his problem was fixed. Button was next out with just minutes left in the session. Nico would join him along with several other drivers all looking to get themselves ready for a possibly wet qualifying.

Rubens would also leave his pit and the session would come to an end with no change in the order with Webber still fastest from Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Kubica, Alonso, Massa, Sutil, Nico, and Kobayashi in tenth. Rubens was still down in thirteenth. For Nico his ninth was a good reversal of his Friday times but for Rubens his thirteenth must have been a disappointment. The drivers would stop at the grid to again complete practice starts prior to pitting. Now it was a question as to whether the wet conditions would continue into qualifying.

Pos Driver             Team		      Time       Laps
 1. Mark Webber        Red Bull-Renault       1m46.106s  10
 2. Lewis Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes       1m46.223s  17
 3. Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault       1m46.396s  12
 4. Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes       1m46.397s  17
 5. Robert Kubica      Renault                1m46.492s  17
 6. Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                1m46.627s  11
 7. Felipe Massa       Ferrari                1m46.962s  10
 8. Adrian Sutil       Force India-Mercedes   1m47.064s  15
 9. Nico Hülkenberg    AT&T Williams-Cosworth 1m47.160s  16
10. Kamui Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari         1m47.296s  17
11. Pedro de la Rosa   Sauber-Ferrari         1m47.388s  15
12. Vitaly Petrov      Renault                1m47.406s  15
13. R.Barrichello      AT&T Williams-Cosworth 1m47.512s  14
14. M.Schumacher       Mercedes               1m47.695s  16
15. Nico Rosberg       Mercedes               1m47.837s  9
16. Sébastien Buemi    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m47.905s  20
17. J.Alguersuari      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m47.981s  18
18. Vitantonio Liuzzi  Force India-Mercedes   1m48.692s  8
19. Jarno Trulli       Lotus-Cosworth         1m50.600s  14
20. Bruno Senna        HRT-Cosworth           1m51.133s  9
21. H.Kovalainen       Lotus-Cosworth         1m51.384s  14
22. Lucas Di Grassi    Virgin-Cosworth        1m51.517s  13
23. Timo Glock         Virgin-Cosworth        1m51.669s  10
24. Sakon Yamamoto     HRT-Cosworth           1m52.001s  13