Webber fastest in final Bahrain practice

The final practice s3ession for the Bahrain Grand Prix would see BMW WilliamsF1's Mark Webber set a stunning lap time to go fastest. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld was down in tenth. Both drivers looked to be some way off the pace but in the closing minutes both would improve to see them finish in the top ten. The result was very encouraging as the team prepares for this afternoon's first qualifying.

The opening Saturday practice would see Michael Schumacher quickest with a time of 1m:30.552. Renault's Fernando Alonso was second with a 1m:31.811. The second session, again run under very hot conditions, would start slowly with Kimi Raikkonen only coming out after five minutes. He would be joined by Sauber's Jacques Villeneuve.

Raikkonen would be the first to set a time with a lap of 1m:33.160. Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli would also take to the circuit. Ralf would go fastest with a 1m:32.343. Villeneuve would set a time of 1m:33.918 to be third. By this time half the field was out as the teams prepared for this afternoon's qualifying.

McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa would go fastest with a 1m:32.067, while the Renault's of Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella were in second and third. Villeneuve would improve with a time of 1m:32.869 to be in third. It was all happening with Red Bull's Christian Klien now moving to the top of the times with a 1m:31.925. But it would be Jenson Button who would set a blistering time to go fastest, a 1m:30.324. This would be the fastest time so far this weekend.

de la Rosa would improve with a 1m:31.551 but Button was still fastest by 1.2 seconds. Michael Schumacher would come out and after setting the fastest time in the opening two sectors would finish in second with a time of 1m:30.348, to be right behind Button. Sauber's Felipe Massa would move into the top 10 with a 1m:32.152, to be seventh. Mark Webber was down in fourteenth with a time of 1m:33.512. Nick had yet to set a time with twenty minutes of the session remaining.

A lap of 1m:29.810 would see Raikkonen go fastest by half a second. Alonso would challenge Kimi's time but would finish in second with a 1m:29.825. Trulli would be able to do what Alonso couldn't when he would set a time of 1m:29.798 to go fastest. Red Bull's Christian Klien would show some speed with a time of 1m:29.896. A lap of 1m:29.864 would see de la Rosa improve. Ralf Schumacher would support Trulli by setting the quickest time, a 1m:29.711.

Such is the pace of development in Formula One that last years pole time was a 1m:30.139, and so far in practice several drivers had beaten this by several tenths. Michael Schumacher would improve with a 1m:30.080 but was in seventh. Barrichello had yet to set a time. Mark had improved his time with a 1m:31.252 to be in thirteenth behind the two Sauber's.

With ten minutes remaining Nick would set a time of 1m:31.831 to be in fourteenth, six tenths behind Webber. 8David Coulthard was now in ninth with a 1m:30.558. Fisichella would go fastest in sector one, with a 28.5 three tenths up. But he would lose time in the rest of the lap to finish with a 1m:29.738 to be second.

With five minutes remaining the cars would start coming out looking to set a quick time in the closing minutes. Michael Schumacher would return to the pit after making a mistake in sector two. Both WilliamsF1 cars were on quick laps with Nick moving into ninth with a 1m:30.290. Mark was on a quick lap and would pull a stunning lap from no where and go fastest with a time of 1m:29.527.