Monaco GP: Hulkenberg ahead of Barrichello in final practice

Saturdays' practice session for the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix would be run under cloudy but dry conditions. It was expected that it would be dry for the rest of the day. For the AT&T Williams team both drivers saw improvements with their cars as a result of new parts been run, such as the new rear wing. But both were looking to improve on their Thursday practice session results that saw Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello down in thirteenth and fourteenth. The Renault's of Petrov and Kubica would be first out on the track followed by a rush of drivers, including Nico Hulkenberg.

Nico would return to his pit while Rubens left the pit lane. We had yet to see the cars from McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull. Both Renault's would complete an extra installation lap. Rubens would pit leaving just the Virgin of Di Grassi out on the track. He would come back in as Button took to the track running a slow lap. Team-mate Hamilton was next out as Button pitted. Hamilton would pit leaving the track empty with nearly ten minutes of the session complete. First back out was Alguersuari as Schumacher took to the track for the first time, joined by Vettel. Kobayashi was next out followed by Glock. Alguersuari was on the harder tyre as other drivers returned to the track. Alguersuari's first time was a 1m:19.939. Schumacher would set his first time with a 1m:18.743 to go fastest.

Vettel was now second, 1m:19.332, followed by Alguersuari and Kobayashi. Nico and Kovalainen were out on the track as Alguersuari was able to improve with a 1m:18.538 to go fastest. Kobayashi was now third with a 1m:18.836 with Vettel fourth from De la Rosa and Di Grassi. Kovalainen was now sixth as Alguersuari set a 1m:17.526 with Schumacher still second, 1m:18.743. Alonso, Massa, and Webber had come out as De la Rosa moved into fourth. Vettel was fifth while Nico had moved into sixth with a 1m:19.571.Schumacher was now fastest with a 1m:16.892. The times were improving as the drivers got into their rhythm. Vettel was now fastest, 1m:16.577, from Alguersuari, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Nico, De la Rosa, Alonso, and Kovalainen. Buemi was now sixth while Alonso went fastest with a 1m:16.266. Vettel was second from Alguersuari, Schumacher, Massa, and
Kobayashi.

Vettel was now second, 1m:16.383 but Massa would move ahead with a 1m:16.279 to make it a Ferrari one-two. Vettel was now third from Buemi, Webber, Alguersuari, and Schumacher. Button would improve to be fifth as Alonso would crash his car heavily coming into the Casino Square area. His car would be craned away with a lot of damage done to the right of the Ferrari. As his car travelled down the barrier parts of his car flew off. The Ferrari mechanics are going to have put in a major effort to get his car repaired before qualifying. Nico had pitted currently twelfth, 1m:18.060, while Rubens was running and in thirteenth. Rubens would improve to be eleventh with a time of 1m:17.212. Kubica was now fastest with a time of 1m:16.064. Alonso was still second from Massa, Webber, Button, and Vettel.

Hamilton was in eighth as Rubens pitted as Kubica went fastest with a 1m:15.847 to now be 0.4 ahead of Alonso. Hamilton was on a quick lap setting the quickest lap so far with a 1m:15.821. Schumacher had returned to the track but would have a moment at Mirabeau losing the rear end seeing him take to the escape road. Schumacher was currently in ninth from Alguersuari. Nico was now in fourteenth and back out on the track. This would become fifteenth as Sutil improved to be in thirteenth. Kubica would improve to again be fastest with a time of 1m:15.504. Schumacher would improve to now be third, 1m:16.228, with just under thirty minutes of the session remaining. Rubens was back out while Sutil would spin going through the Casino Square seeing his car spin backwards into the barrier. Nico was able to improve to set a 1m:16.843 to now be in eleventh, one place ahead of Rubens.

Kubica and Hamilton were first and second and both in the pits. Schumacher was third from Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Webber, Alguersuari, Button, and Buemi in tenth. Rubens had dropped to thirteenth, 1m:17.212, as Petrov moved up to twelfth. Vettel was now second, 1m:15.564, while Hamilton was back out. Rosberg would put in a quick lap seeing him jump to fourth, 1m:15.901. Nico was now twelfth while Rubens had dropped to fifteenth and was back in his pit. Rosberg was able to find some time moving up to second with a 1m:15.516. Webber was now fourth, 1m:15.690, and on his next lap improved with a 1m:15.570 but remained in fourth. Hamilton was fifth from Schumacher, Button, Alonso, Massa, and Alguersuari in tenth. With twenty minutes left in the session Massa would improve to be in sixth, 1m:15.639. Rosberg had pitted as Buemi moved in ninth from Liuzzi. Alonso was now down in eleventh while both Williams cars were back in their pits preparing for their qualifying simulations.

Webber was now fastest with a 1m:15.210 while Buemi moved into fourth, 1m:15.537. Nico was now in thirteenth and Rubens sixteenth. Rubens was back out on the track still on the harder tyre. The track was now quite empty as the drivers would return to their pits. Kubica was still running as Rubens was on an improved lap but he would abort it and return to his pit. Kubica would pit while Senna was out on the track, currently slowest. He was on the softer tyre joined by Alguersuari in the Torro Rosso. Alguersuari was able to improve to be eighth, 1m:15.918. Petrov and Kobayashi were back out with Petrov up to twelfth, 1m:16.240. Alguersuari was able to find a few tenths with a 1m:15.769 but remained eighth. More drivers were coming out including Nico. Senna was now twenty first while at the from Webber was fastest from Kubica, Rosberg, Buemi, Hamilton, Vettel, Massa, and Alguersuari in eighth.

Rubens was out on the track with just four cars still in the pits. With everyone on the softer tyre only Alguersuari and Kovalainen were in the pits. Drivers were trying to find a clear piece of road for their runs while Hamilton would move up to second with a 1m:15.385. The cars were bunching up as Nico was down in fifteenth and Rubens seventeenth. Drivers weer been held up by traffic while Kubica moved to the top of the times with a 1m:14.806. Webber was second with an improved time of 1m:14.945. Schumacher was now third, 1m:15.236, from Hamilton, Rosberg, Buemi, Vettel, Massa, Sutil, and Alguersuari. As the session came to a close Kubica was still fastest from Webber, Schumacher, Rosberg, Hamilton, Buemi, and Vettel. Massa was able to improve to be second with a 1m:14.852. Webber was now third from Hamilton, Vettel, Schumacher, Rosberg, Buemi, Sutil, and Button in tenth. The drivers would return to the grid to practice their starts.

For the AT&T Williams team Nico would again finish ahead of Rubens with the pair in thirteenth and fourteenth. Nico's time was a 1m:16.164 while Rubens was very close behind with a 1m:16.232. Just seven hundredths separated the Williams pair but would they be able to make it into the final period of qualifying with their times it was not looking promising.

Pos  Driver         Team		   Time      Laps
 1. Kubica         Renault                 1:14.806  25
 2. Massa          Ferrari                 1:14.852  22
 3. Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:14.945  24
 4. Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:15.038  24
 5. Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:15.046  25
 6. Schumacher     Mercedes                1:15.236  21
 7. Rosberg        Mercedes                1:15.252  20
 8. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:15.537  21
 9. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:15.659  13
10. Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:15.682  22
11. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:15.691  19
12. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:15.769  26
13. Hulkenberg     AT&T Williams-Cosworth  1:16.164  24
14. Barrichello    AT&T Williams-Cosworth  1:16.232  21
15. Petrov         Renault                 1:16.240  26
16. Alonso         Ferrari                 1:16.266  6
17. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:16.644  25
18. de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:16.696  22
19. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:17.782  18
20. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:17.865  26
21. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:18.063  24
22. Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:19.720  25
23. Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth            1:19.781  21
24. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth                   3