Abu Dhabi GP: Williams still outside top ten in FP3

After Friday practice for the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the AT&T Williams team had a lot of work to do as both drivers, Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg, were outside the top ten. Both drivers were say that they had a lot of work to do on the setup of their cars so it will be interesting to see if they have been able to sort them out. The weather conditions were again warm and dry for Saturday's hour long practice session.

The session would start and there would be a rush of drivers who would come out Nico amongst them. After their installation lap they would return to their pits. Rubens would be one of the last drivers to come out returning to his pit after a single lap. With everyone completing their lap the they would pit leaving the track empty. Hamilton would report a vibration on his radio as he returned to his pit. The vibration was due to flat spot of one of his front tyres. First back out was Di Grassi fo0llowed by Trulli. Rubens would remain behind the wheel of the Williams as he waited to go back out. Di Grassi would set a 1m:48.532 while Glock was next out. Di Grassi would improve with a 1m:47.992 while Trulli set a 1m:48.549.

Di Grassi continued to find a few tenths setting a 1m:47.148 while Heidfeld and Alguersuari took to the track. Trulli moved ahead of Di Grassi with a 1m:47.132. Glock was now fastest with a 1m:47.025 while Buemi took to the track. Nico would be the first of the Williams drivers to leave the pit lane with forty minutes remaining. Glock would set a 1m:46.106 while Heidfeld would go fastest with a 1m:44.415 followed by Alguersuari with a 1m:44.339 to go fastest. Buemi was now third from Glock and Di Grassi. Kubica would be the first of the big names to take to the track as Glock pitted. Petrov would also come out along with Senna. Nico was out on the harder tyre and he would complain about the car bottoming quite a lot.

Buemi was now second, 1m:44.388, while Alguersuari would also improve his quickest time, 1m:44.043. Nico was now fourth, 1m:44.587, as more drivers took to the track, including Massa, Alonso, Rosberg, Klien, Kovalainen, Schumacher, and Vettel. Kubica was now fastest, 1m:43.186, from Heidfeld, 1m:43.670, with Alguersuari and Buemi third and fourth. Kubica improved with a 1m:42.615 but he was beaten by Schumacher with a 1m:42.518. Nico would improve with a time of 1m:42.886 to be third. Alonso's first lap would see him jump up to third, 1m:42.619, while Rubens had joined Nico out on the track. Petrov was now fifth but Vettel would take this spot with a 1m:43.041. Heidfeld had dropped to seventh while Button would be the first McLaren out.

Nico would pit while Petrov would move up to second, 1m:42.580. Alonso was now fourth from Button with Nico sixth. Vettel was now seventh as Webber took to the track. Vettel would go fastest in sector one as Rubens set a 1m:46.256 to be seventeenth. Alonso was now fastest with a 1m:42.291 while Massa was now seventh. Vettel would show his pace going fastest with a 1m:41.721 with Alonso second from Schumacher, Kubica, and Petrov. Now it was Rosberg's time to jump up the order to go second with a 1m:42.099. Rubens was now in fourteenth, 1m:43.783, while Nico would have a minor problem with his front wing with the end plate suffering some damage. Alonso and Kubica had both pitted. Webber was now in eleventh, 1m:43.202. Neither Kovalainen or Hamilton had set a time. Vettel had improved with a 1m:41.628 while Rosberg had pitted.

Webber would move up to fourth, 1m:42.353, while Nico would return to the track and Rubens had dropped to seventeenth. Hamilton would go second fastest with a 1m:41.994 while both Red Bull cars were on improved laps. Webber would go fastest with a 1m:41.621 to be 0.007 ahead of Vettel. Hamilton was now third from Button, Rosberg, and Petrov in sixth. Vettel would also i9mprove moving ahead of Webber with a 1m:41.252. Nico was now tenth and Rubens had move up to eleventh, 1m:42.985. Nico was on a quicker lap, joined by Rubens. Nico would not improve but Rubens would move up to be ahead of Nico, 1m:42.597. Nico's time was a 1m:42.829. Both Red Bull cars had pitted followed by Hamilton. Eighteen minutes remaining and Button had joi9ned Hamilton in the pits. Rubens had pitted with the order Vettel from Webber, Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, Petrov, Alonso, Schumacher, Kubica, Nico, and Rubens in eleventh. Nico had been able to reverse the position with Rubens.

Alonso was out on the softer tyre as Nico pitted. Schumacher would move ahead of Alonso but the Ferrari driver would finds pace moving up to fourth, 1m:41.790. Vettel would come back out on the softer tyre as Schumacher goes fifth fastest, 1m:41.912. Nico and Rubens were now eleventh and twelfth. Button was now sixth with Rosberg seventh followed by Massa, Kubica, and Petrov in tenth. Webber would join Vettel followed by Hamilton. Alonso continued to find some pace with eight minutes remaining. Alonso was now second, 1m:41.490, while both Williams drivers were still in their pits. Nico would be first back out while Massa went fastest in sector two. Schumacher had pitted while Rubens also came out.

Webber would improve in sectors one and two but would back off in the final sector as Vettel would also find a tenth with a 1m:41.142. Alonso had pitted joining Massa as the only two drivers not on the track. Nico was eleventh while Rubens had dropped to thirteenth, 1m:42.597. Button would jump up to third, 1m:41.578 but Webber would go second fastest with a 1m:41.153, to be just 0.011 behind Vettel. Nico was now eighth, 1m:41.942, while Rubens had dropped to fifteenth. Hamilton would move up to third, 1m:41.484, as Petrov went fastest in sector one. With two minutes remaining both Ferrari's remained in their pits joined by Sutil. Alonso would come back out as Hamilton went fastest in sector one. Rubens would improve to be thirteenth, 1m:42.316, while at the front Vettel and Webber would both go faster with Vettel setting a 1m:40.696 and Webber a 1m:40.829. The session would end with Hamilton remaining in third.

Alonso was fourth from Button, Petrov, Schumacher, Kubica, Heidfeld, with Nico now tenth. This would become eleventh as Rosberg moved up to eighth, 1m:41.729. Massa was also out on the track joining Alonso to do a practice start. Vettel had set the pace in the final practice session with a late lap of 1m:40.696 on the softer tyre. Nico and Rubens were running close together with Nico finishing in eleventh and Rubens thirteenth. They were separated by just four tenths. As for their prospects in qualifying both drivers should make it comfortably into Q2 but Q3 may just be out of their reach.

Pos  Driver	  Team		         Time       Laps
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault       1m40.696s  18
 2.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault       1m40.829s  15
 3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes       1m41.280s  13
 4.  Alonso       Ferrari                1m41.490s  14
 5.  Button       McLaren-Mercedes       1m41.578s  17
 6.  Petrov       Renault                1m41.689s  17
 7.  Schumacher   Mercedes               1m41.690s  18
 8.  Rosberg      Mercedes               1m41.729s  17
 9.  Kubica       Renault                1m41.877s  18
10.  Heidfeld     Sauber-Ferrari         1m41.893s  20
11.  Hulkenberg   AT&T Williams-Cosworth 1m41.934s  18
12.  Massa        Ferrari                1m41.978s  14
13.  Barrichello  AT&T Williams-Cosworth 1m42.316s  15
14.  Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari         1m42.566s  16
15.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes   1m42.587s  18
16.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes   1m42.858s  14
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m42.993s  20
18.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m43.344s  18
19.  Kovalainen   Lotus-Cosworth         1m44.876s  15
20.  Trulli       Lotus-Cosworth         1m45.048s  23
21.  Glock        Virgin-Cosworth        1m45.050s  20
22.  Senna        Hispania-Cosworth      1m45.490s  16
23.  di Grassi    Virgin-Cosworth        1m45.629s  22
24.  Klien        Hispania-Cosworth      1m46.464s  17