Alonso Fastest in Practice 3 - Malaysia
Renault continued their impressive season-opening form on Saturday, when Fernando Alonso topped the times in the morning's opening practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix
Alonso set a time of 1:34.715 to finish 0.168 ahead of World Champion Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, with Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella third.
McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth fastest, with Toyota putting in a good showing as Jarno Trulli finished fifth, just ahead of his teammate Ralf Schumacher.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya finished seventh fastest in the second McLaren but he was more than one second off the lead pace while Jenson Button finished eighth in the lead BAR-Honda.
German Nick Heidfeld led his Australian teammate Mark Webber as the Williams duo completed the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively, while Anthony Davidson, brought in to replace Takuma Sato at BAR, finished 14th.
The session began with temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius and a humidity of 60 percent but the rising sun suggested that the breezy conditions would make way for warmer temperatures later in the day.
World Champion Schumacher spun his Ferrari at turn four after 25 minutes of the 45-minute session but he was able to continue as his brother Ralf sat at the top of the timesheets for Toyota.
Alonso moved to the top as the pack shuffled but the Renault driver managed to keep ahead of his rivals to clock the fastest time of the morning in an incident-free session.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Renault (M) 1:34.715 5 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:34.883 + 0.168 10 3. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:34.930 + 0.215 6 4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:35.054 + 0.339 9 5. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:35.573 + 0.858 6 6. R.Schumacher Toyota (M) 1:35.645 + 0.930 10 7. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:35.850 + 1.135 8 8. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:36.162 + 1.447 7 9. Heidfeld Williams-BMW (M) 1:36.434 + 1.719 3 10. Webber Williams-BMW (M) 1:36.465 + 1.750 5 11. Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:36.888 + 2.173 11 12. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:36.903 + 2.188 7 13. Massa Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:36.987 + 2.272 6 14. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:37.049 + 2.334 12 15. Klien Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:37.204 + 2.489 10 16. Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:37.850 + 3.135 6 17. Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:38.444 + 3.729 11 18. Monteiro Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:39.349 + 4.634 12 19. Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:41.398 + 6.683 15 20. Albers Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:42.023 + 7.308 16 All timing unofficial
About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Drivers | Fernando Alonso |
| Author | Will Gray |
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