Webber leads final practice in Australia
Local favourite Mark Webber set the pace in the third and final practice session ahead of tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne
The Red Bull racer became the first man to break through the 1m25s barrier this weekend, thanks to a late run on the softer, option tyre, to lead the way after a dry hour of running.
Webber set a 1m24.794s lap with six minutes to go, and then improved to a 1m24.719s best to top the times by 0.210s from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher was the only other driver to lap below 1m25s. The German's Mercedes was fastest of all in the second sector, but couldn't hold on during the final part of the lap and he wound up third fastest, a further 0.034s back.
Webber's Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel wound up fourth, while Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and McLaren's Jenson Button rounded out the top six.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa led the way early on in the session with a 1m27.190s, after briefly trading times with circuit newcomer Vitaly Petrov (Renault), but the Brazilian eventually wound up ninth fastest, over eight tenths off the pace.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who also took a turn at the top of the timesheet during the early harder tyre runs, finished up seventh fastest, 0.786s behind Webber and only 0.02s clear of Force India's Adrian Sutil. Sutil's team-mate Tonio Liuzzi rounded out the top 10.
After Massa's early pace-setting, Rosberg and Vettel both took turns at topping the timesheet, before Hamilton leapt to the front by becoming the first man to break into the 1m25s midway through the session.
Hamilton, under fire in the Australian press for his 'hooning' antics in a Mercedes road car yesterday, set a 1m25.706s best that remained unbeaten until Alonso shaved one and half tenths from Hamilton's mark with 22 minutes left to run.
The Ferrari driver suffered badly from traffic in the early part of the session, but a few tweaks to his car's rear suspension and front ride height, plus some clear space on the circuit, allowed the Spaniard to set the pace briefly.
Alonso stayed on top until the 42-minute mark, when first Schumacher (1m25.494s) then Webber (1m25.309s) vaulted to the top of the timesheet for the first time, thanks to the last of the laps set on the harder tyre.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:24.719 16 2. Alonso Ferrari 1:24.929 + 0.210 19 3. Schumacher Mercedes 1:24.963 + 0.244 17 4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:25.122 + 0.403 19 5. Rosberg Mercedes 1:25.366 + 0.647 16 6. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.399 + 0.680 20 7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.505 + 0.786 14 8. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:25.525 + 0.806 18 9. Massa Ferrari 1:25.549 + 0.830 20 10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:25.782 + 1.063 19 11. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:25.852 + 1.133 17 12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:26.104 + 1.385 21 13. Kubica Renault 1:26.184 + 1.465 21 14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.275 + 1.556 21 15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:26.368 + 1.649 17 16. Petrov Renault 1:26.661 + 1.942 19 17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:26.804 + 2.085 19 18. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:26.818 + 2.099 18 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:29.539 + 4.820 19 20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:29.800 + 5.081 16 21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:30.800 + 6.081 18 22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:31.114 + 6.395 12 23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:34.334 + 9.615 11 24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:36.649 + 11.930 8 All Timing Unofficial
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments