Monaco Practice Three: Williams drivers 9th & 11th

With AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg fastest after the Thursday practice sessions the Williams team would commence their Saturday practice. Both Nico and team-mate Kazuki Nakajima would complete their installation laps and return to their pits. Massa was to have to change his engine but was able to get out for the session. The first cars back out would be Fisichella and Glock. Trulli would join them as Fisichella sets the first time with a 1m:22.045. Glock would go faster with a 1m:20.242 to go fastest. Trulli was now second, 1m:20.997, as Fisichella moved back to the top of the times with a 1m:19.913. But Glock would improve with a 1m:18.626. Trulli would improve with a 1m:19.256.

Kubica was fourth as Heidfeld and Piquet would come out. Alonso and Kovalainen were next out onto the track. Fisichella would improve with a 1m:18.525. But Trulli was finding pace and would lower the quickest time with a 1m:17.995. Heidfeld was fifth, 1m:21.148. The times were all coming down as Trulli pitted. The track was now very busy with both Williams drivers out on the track. Only three drivers were in the pits; Trulli, Bourdais, and Massa. Glock was now second, 1m:18.142, and would also pit. Piquet was fourth followed by Kovalainen, Kubica, Webber, Alonso, Button, and Heidfeld in tenth. Glock would return to the track while Kazuki was fourteenth, 1m:23.491.

Hamilton was now fastest with a 1m:17.478 followed now by Alonso and Trulli. Kazuki would improve to be fifth, 1m:18.113. Nico would improve from sixteenth to now be fastest with a 1m:17.476. But Nico would be passed by Alonso but Hamilton would move ahead of the Renault with a 1m:16.791. Kazuki was now second, 1m:17.233, and Nico in fourth, 1m:17.476. It was all changing rapidly with Piquet now third followed by Kovalainen, Alonso, Vettel, and Nico in seventh. Both Williams drivers were on the harder tyre as Nico improved to be second with a 1m:16.826. Alonso was third and Kazuki fourth. Hamilton was able to improve with a 1m:16.228. Kazuki would drop to sixth as Webber and Vettel moved ahead of him. Alonso and Webber would pit as Raikkonen moved up to second, 1m:16.228. Nico was able to improve with a 1m:16.150 to go fastest but was beaten by Hamilton with a 1m:15.622.

Raikkonen would improve with a 1m:15.986 to move up to second. Nico would pit from third joining Kazuki who was now tenth. With half the session completed Hamilton would also pit as Massa moved up to fourth, 1m:16.542. Most of the field were back in their garages as Fisichella improved to now be fifth, 1m:16.898. Barrichello was now in fourth, 1m:16.234, while team-mate Button were in ninth. The BMW's were slowest. Barrichello was able to find a few tenths with a 1m:15.832 to now be in second. Nico was now fourth and Kazuki twelfth. Massa was now in the 1m:15's with a 1m:15.907. Seventh placed Alonso was back out on the track along with Button.

Nico would return with just under twenty five minutes in the session. Kazuki was also out on the track along with most of the field. Both Ferrari's and Toyota's were still in their pits. Button was now sixth, 1m:16.333. Hamilton was running on the super soft tyres. He would go fastest in sector one. Massa was out on the track as Hamilton could only improve slightly with a 1m:15.546, despite the softer tyres. Kazuki would improve to now be seventh, 1m:16.707. Nico was fifth with a 1m:16.150, as Button pitted. Hamilton's next lap would see improve with a 1m:15.389. Kazuki was now eighth. Raikkonen was third followed by Massa and Nico. Hamilton would pit joining team-mate Kovalainen.

Vettel was now fifth, 1m:16.032 pushing Nico down to sixth. Kazuki had pitted from fourteenth. Raikkonen was now second, 1m:15.598, and Massa third, 1m:15.817. Both Toyota's were out on the track with fourteen minutes remaining. Nico had pitted from sixth as most of the field joined him as the teams and drivers prepared for their practice qualifying runs. On the harder tyre Raikkonen would go fastest with a 1m:15.382. Hamilton was now second with Hamilton's time set on the softer tyre. Only four cars were out on the track including Button. With ten minutes remaining and Barrichello would leave the pits. Button on the softer tyre was now fifth, 1m:15.972. Hamilton was back out as Button went fastest with a 1m:15.233. Drivers would start to return to the track including Massa, Barrichello, Vettel, and Kovalainen.

Kovalainen was now sixth using the softer tyre. Raikkonen was back out using the super soft tyre. Nico was now out on the track with six minutes left in the session. Alonso was now second, 1m:15.273. Five minutes remaining and Kazuki would come back out as Barrichello moved into third, 1m:15.286. Massa was fourth followed by Raikkonen and Hamilton. The whole field was out on the track now with three minutes left. Nico was on a quick lap while Raikkonen had to back off while on a quick lap. Nico would improve to be seventh with a 1m:15.758. Kazuki was down in seventeenth, 1m:16.707. Alonso was now fastest with a 1m:15.164.

Kazuki was on a better lap seeing him move into eleventh, 1m:16.103. Kovalainen was now third, 1m:15.278, seeing Nico drop to eighth. On his final lap Nico was now able to improve his time. With the end of the session the order was Alonso from Button, Kovalainen, Barrichello, Massa, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel, Nico, and Webber in tenth. Kazuki would remain in eleventh. Nico would finish six tenths behind the quickest time. The cars would again use the grid to male practice starts prior to returning to their pits.

The performance from the Williams drivers in this session does not appear to see them have the pace to do well in qualifying. But a good grid position is essential in this race so the team may adopt an aggressive strategy to see them near the front of the grid. Having said that it was encouraging to see both Nico and Kazuki fairly evenly matched in their pace.

Pos  Driver        Team			     Time     Laps
 1.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:15.164
 2.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:15.233
 3.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:15.278
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:15.286
 5.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:15.293
 6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:15.382
 7.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:15.389
 8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:15.722
 9.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:15.758
10.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:15.985
11.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:16.103
12.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:16.228
13.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:16.301
14.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:16.317
15.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:16.382
16.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:16.432
17.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:16.527
18.  Kubica       BMW Sauber            (B)  1:16.599
19.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber            (B)  1:16.661
20.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:16.810