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With both AT&T
Williams drivers, Nico Rosberg AND Kazuki Nakajima, feeling positive about
the prospects for an improved performance they prepared for the opening
ninety minute Friday practice for the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix. There would
be the usual period of drivers completing their installation laps and it
would take Alguersuari to brake the silence and he would be joined by Buemi.
Alguersuari would set a time of 2m:00.874 on what was a very dusty track.
Buemi would go faster with a 1m:59.195. Alguersuari would improve with a
1m:58.808, but so would Buemi with a 1m:55.715. Both Buemi and Alguersuari
were 54.526 and 1m:57.647 respectively.
 Fisichella and Grosjean were now out on the track. Buemi was down to a
1m:54.526. Webber and Kazuki were next out joined by Liuzzi. Alguersuari set
a new time of 1m:56.106 as Fisichella moved into third with a 1m:57.517.
Grosjean set a time of 2m:00.957. Nico was told that the lap times would be
a second a lap slower due to changes in the circuit. Webber was now second,
1m:54.790, and Kazuki went fourth, 1m:56.985. Fisichella would move ahead
with a 1m:56.431 while Buemi improved with a 1m:53.757. Nico was out on the
track while Buemi was still fastest from Webber, Alguersuari, Fisichella,
Kazuki, Grosjean, and Liuzzi.
Fisichella would move up to second, 1m:54.658 , and Grosjean fourth,
1m:55.300. Several other drivers were out on the track including Button,
Raikkonen, Trulli, Hamilton, Kovalainen. Nico was now fourth, 1m:54.992,
with fifty five minutes left in the session. Webber was now fastest with a
1m:53.076, while Kazuki was down to seventh. Grosjean was up to second,
1m:53.513, as Hamilton moved into fifth, 1m:53.892. Nico's next lap would
see him second but Kovalainen would move into this spot. The dust was very
apparent under the lights. Kovalainen would spin while Kazuki moved up to fifth, 1m:53.620.
Webber would put in a very quick lap with a 1m:51.912 while Button moved up
to second, 1m:52.157.
Hamilton was now third, 1m:52.816, but Nico would move ahead with a
1m:52.464. Button was now fastest with a 1m:51.589 from Webber, Kovalainen,
Nico, Hamilton, Fisichella, Grosjean, and Kazuki in eighth. But the session
would be stopped when Grosjean would spin at Turn seventeen. His car was
stuck sideways on the track seeing the marshals forced to bring out a mobile
crane to pick the car up. There was slight damage to the Renault while his
car would be removed and the session would get underway again. Barrichello
was first back out followed by several other drivers including Webber, Alonso,
Sutil, both BMW's, both Toyota's. Kazuki, and Buemi.
There would now only be a few drivers still in their pits with thirty five
minutes remaining. Nico's current time was a 1m:52.464. Kazuki was eighth with a
1m:53.620. Sutil would have an off spinning his car but he was able to
continue. Glock would move up to fifth, 1m:52.702. Vettel was out on the
track and joining Heidfeld had not set a time. Kovalainen was now third from
Alonso with Nico now fifth. Hamilton was seventh while Nico moved up to
third with a 1m:52.305. Kovalainen was now fastest with a 1m:51.255.
Raikkonen was now in second but Webber would move ahead of the Ferrari.
Webber's time was a 1m:51.284.
Button was now fourth from Barrichello, Sutil, Vettel, Alonso, Nico, and
Glock in tenth. Kazuki was now twelfth. Button would improve with a
1m:51.181 to be fastest as Webber pitted. Heidfeld had still yet to set a
time. Alonso would improve to be fourth, 1m:51.403, from Vettel, Raikkonen,
Barrichello, Sutil, Kazuki, and Nico in tenth. Hamilton was now up to fifth,
1m:51.499. Barrichello was now third, 1m:51.274 with Button still fastest
from Kovalainen. Webber was fourth from Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen,
Sutil, Kubica, Kazuki, and Nico now twelfth. Barrichello would pit joined by
Kovalainen. Button would improve with a 1m:50.703 to now be 0.552 ahead of
second but this would be reduced to just 0.012 as Hamilton moved into second with a 1m:50.715.
Vettel was now third, 1m:50.790, while Nico was up to tenth, 1m:51.887.
Heidfeld would move up ahead of Nico while Kazuki was now thirteenth. Night
was now with the drivers with the track now under lights. Only tenth placed
Heidfeld was on the track as everyone else pitted with eighteen minutes
remaining. He would pit after running wide at Turn nine leaving the track
empty.
Buemi was back out joined by Glock, Button, and Trulli. Barrichello was next
out joined by Liuzzi and Alguersuari. Other drivers were out on the track
including Kubica, Webber, Nico, and Alonso. Buemi was up to ninth with ten
minutes left in the session. Button was still fastest from Hamilton, Vettel,
Kovalainen, Barrichello, Webber, Alonso, Raikkonen, Kubica, and Buemi now
tenth. Nico and Kazuki were now thirteenth and fourteenth. On a quick lap
Barrichello would go fastest with a 1m:50.549. The track was now very busy
with only Sutil and Grosjean in their pits. With six minutes left Sutil was
now out as Nico moved up to eighth with a 1m:51.427. Kazuki was still in
fourteenth but he was on a quick lap moving up to seventh, 1m:51.167.
Kovalainen was now second, 1m:50.699.
Nico was now tenth while Webber moved up to second with a 1m:50.416.
Kovalainen was third from Button and Hamilton. Raikkonen was now up to
eighth with a 1m:50.892. Kazuki was now ninth and Nico eleventh. Alonso was
now in third with a 1m:50.567. The session would come to an end as Button
now second from Webber, Alonso, Kovalainen, Hamilton, Vettel, Kubica,
Raikkonen and Kazuki in tenth. Nico was now eleventh. Both Williams drivers
were around one second off the pace so they do have some time to make up.
But the session was notable for the amount of dust on the track causing some
issues fro the drivers. |
