Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Glock fastest in final practice - Italy

Timo Glock set the fastest time in the final practice session at Monza this morning as the drivers again found themselves in a losing battle against bad weather

Heavy rain prevented anyone from getting any meaningful track time, but Glock managed to string a few laps together early in the session to produce a best time of 1:35.785.

Sebastien Vettel came the closest to matching Glock with a 1:36.129, but shortly after he set his best time the conditions deteriorated and all of the cars returned to the garage in the hope that the rain would lighten off.

It was already wet when the session began, but Rubens Barrichello opted to stay out and was the first to record a flying lap, his Honda setting an early benchmark at 1:40.484. Glock immediately went quicker and within two laps had set the time that would stand for the rest of the session.

With just under half an hour remaining there were still a few drivers who were yet to complete a lap, notably the two McLaren and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais, whilst Kimi Raikkonen had managed just flyer that was six seconds off the pace.

Bourdais was one of the first to attempt to brave the worsening downpour, along with Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld, but the conditions - and perhaps fears of burning through their allocation of wet tyres - quickly forced them back into the pits.

With just 10 minutes to go Lewis Hamilton went back out and finally cracked the timesheets, but the fact that he was 15 seconds shy of Glock's time was an indication of how difficult the conditions had become.

Hamilton did improve his time a little, but it was clear that the conditions were not going to lend themselves to heroics and as the final minutes ticked away the drivers appeared to be simply trying to get a handle on where the standing water was ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session.

As a result, the final chequered flag fell with the unusual sight of Kimi Raikkonen, Heikki Kovalainen and Hamilton sitting at the very bottom of the timing screens - and with so many of the drivers having done so little running, there is plenty of scope for a surprise in qualifying.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:35.464           16
 2.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:36.129 +  0.665  11
 3.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:36.347 +  0.883  13
 4.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:36.686 +  1.222   9
 5.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:36.706 +  1.242  10
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:36.972 +  1.508  12
 7.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:37.015 +  1.551   7
 8.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:37.263 +  1.799   6
 9.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:37.270 +  1.806  10
10.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:37.285 +  1.821   9
11.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:37.504 +  2.040  11
12.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:37.671 +  2.207   7
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:37.778 +  2.314   8
14.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:37.833 +  2.369   9
15.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:37.882 +  2.418  11
16.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:38.689 +  3.225   8
17.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:39.319 +  3.855   8
18.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:41.164 +  5.700   3
19.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:42.683 +  7.219   6
20.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:46.325 + 10.861   8

All timing unofficial

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Mosley plays down stewards overhaul talk
Next article Vettel grabs record-breaking pole

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe