|
The final
practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix would get underway with The
Toyota's of Schumacher and Trulli first out. They would be joined by the
majority of the field, including Alex and Nico. In the previous days
practice Alex and Nico had finished sixth and eighth. After his installation
lap Alex would pit. He would be joined by Nico. Only a handful of drivers
were left out on the ttrack and the first timed lap would go to Sato,
1m:37.007. Davidson would move ahead of his team-mate with a 1m:36.819.
The only two drivers yet to take to the track were the Ferrari's of
Raikkonen and Massa. Sato was able to move ahead of Davidson with a 1m:36.229. Davidson
had improved with a 1m:36.231. Davidson would pit while Schumacher and the
Spyker's of Sutil and Albers would come back out. With ten minutes of the
hour session complete there was little in the way of activity. Trulli was
next out. There was a number of other drivers also coming out for their
timed laps. Sato would pit. Schumacher was third with a 1m:36.409.
 Heidfeld was on a quick lap and his time of 1m:34.470 would see him fastest
by 1.7 seconds. Both Renault's were out on the track. Ralf was now second
with a 1m:35.966. Neither of the Williams drivers had come out with forty
five minutes remaining. Speed was now second followed by Liuzzi. Kovalainen
was in seventh. Alex was now out on the track. Most drivers were running
with the harder tyres. Trulli was in third, 1m:35.491. Both Ferrari's had
left the pit lane. Heidfeld would improve his time with a 1m:34.338.
BMW team-mate Kubica was now in second with a time of 1m:34.818. Heidfeld
would pit. Raikkonen's first lap would see him fastest with a 1m:33.480.
This was 0.858 ahead of Heidfeld. Alex's first lap would see him in fourth
with a 1m:34.940 but he would drop down to sixth as Coulthard moved into
second only to have Massa take this spot from the Red Bull driver. Nico was
out on the track and the McLaren's had also come out. Both Massa and
Hamilton were on flyers with Massa going fastest with a 1m:33.307 and
Hamilton moved into third with a 1m:33.683.
Nico was down in eighteenth with a 1m:36.751. Alex was now in eighth. Alonso
was now in sixth as Nico's next lap, 1m:34.726, would see him in eighth.
Alex was in ninth. Only Webber had yet to set a time. Hamilton was able to
improve his time and move into second, 1m:33.456. Nico was able to move
ahead of Kubica and into seventh with a time of 1m:34.558. Both McLaren's
had pitted. Raikkonen was able to go fastest with a 1m:33.231. Alex would
pit followed by Nico.
Webber's first lap would see him in tenth, 1m:34.968. The Renault's were
down in nineteenth and twentieth. With the front runners having pitted. Nico and
Alex were still in seventh and ninth. The Renault's had now both dropped to
the bottom of the times. With thirty minutes of the session complete the
order was Raikkonen from Massa, Hamilton, Coulthard, Heidfe3ld, Alonso,
Nico, Kubica, Alex, and in tenth Webber.
Coulthard and Heidfeld would return to the track. Hamilton was also back out
followed by Massa. Now it was the turn of the front runners to take to the
track with the rest of the field having pitted. The second BMW of Kubica
would also leave the pit lane. Coulthard would have a moment running wide
off the track. Hamilton would go fastest in the second sector. He would
finish his lap with a 1m:32.928 to move to the top of the times. Massa was
in second with a 1m:32.950, this was even with the fastest times in the
final two sectors. Both Nico and Alex would leave their pits. Button was
improve considerably to now be fourth, 1m:34.023.
With twenty minutes left both Hamilton and Massa would pit. Davidson was now
in fourth, 1m:33.976. It is obvious that most drivers were out on their
qualifying setups getting ready for this afternoons qualifying. Alex was now fourth
with a 1m:33.658. Nico was in fifth, 1m:33.668. Raikkonen was in third, 1m:33.231.
On his next lap Nico would move ahead of Alex and into fourth, 1m:33.614 but
Alonso would take this spot with a 1m:33.398. Nico and Alex were in fifth
and sixth. Nico would pit with fifteen minutes remaining.
All of the front runners had pitted. Webber would move into fifth with a
1m:33.399. Nico and Alex were now in sixth and seventh. But it would be Heidfeld who
would move to the top of the times with a 1m:32.839. This was the fastest
lap so far this weekend. Massa was back out. Just to rub it in Heidfeld
would improve with a 1m:32.652. Kubica would join his team-mate at the front
with a 1m:32.755 to now be in second. Massa was on his qualifying practice
lap but with a poor second sector was unable to improve. Alex was back out
for his final run. Davidson was now in third, 1m:32.900. Massa would pit as
Raikkonen came out. Kubica would pit. With five minutes left Nico and Alex
were in ninth and tenth. Both Hamilton and Raikkonen were on quick laps.
Nico was back out. Raikkonen would go fastest with a 1m:32.549 but he was
quickly beaten by Hamilton with a 1m:32.543.
Kovalainen had improved to be in ninth. Coulthard would stop in the third
sector. Alonso was now out on the track with only two minutes left.
Fisichella was now in ninth. Alex had pitted having failed to improve from
twelfth. With the end of the session Nico was also unable to improve seeing
the Williams drivers in eleventh and twelfth. the order was Hamilton from
Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Kubica, Davidson, Massa, Alonso, Webber, Fisichella and
in tenth Kovalainen. After their encouraging performances on Friday the
results of the final practice session cast some doubt over how fast the
Williams pair will be in qualifying later today. |
