Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Sepang, 2011
Lewis Hamilton broke Mark Webber?s hold on the fastest practice times in the final session ahead of qualifying in Malaysia.
The McLaren driver?s final effort put him three-tenths of a second ahead of Webber?s Red Bull.
Hamilton was also four-tenths quicker than team mate Jenson Button, who was third.
Nick Heidfeld put Renault fourth following their problems on Friday, ahead of his team mate and the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.
Sauber?s Kamui Kobayashi and the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher completed the top ten.
Paul di Resta was one of few spinners in a largely incident-free, dry session at Sepang.
Vitantonio Liuzzi spent much of the session in the pits and only managed to get on-track in the final quarter of an hour.
More to follow
Combined practice times
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/WKSdCff2KBQ/
Like Anthony Davidson said Red Bull have a lot more up their sleeve. I still think Webber will get pole though.
So you also decided to give him another chance at it in your predictions?
Well I predicted Vettel for pole in Aus but I reckon Webber has the edge on him this weekend.
No, it has to be Vettel on pole or my predctions are gonna fall through the roof if rain hits tomorrow.
LOL. Mine too
Not sure about Webber, I think Seb is definitely planning something. But it will pretty much be for the 2nd row between the McLarens, I guess.
Petrov is frightenling close to Alonso again. It?s getting to be a regular thing isn?t it?
Lets hope so
I might have to become a Pet fan just to take it easier on my nerves!
I feel so sorry for Alonso about that. it?s quite funny because he moved to Ferrari because Renault was to slow.
That must make his little spats with Petrov all the more fun for him.
Now that?s the right attitude to have!
So did MSC do his fastest without the DRS? And if so, because they (again?) had issues with it, or to try the race pace somehow? What do you think?
His lap times with Rosberg are almost identical.
if Roseberg was using it then it seems as though MSC got the leg up on him in practice.
His fastest lap I don?t think he was using the DRS. At least he wasn?t using it on the last 2 straights.
I think they might have been doing a bit of training to see how they do without it in the first laps of the race. Or were they keeping back their pace?
Worst case, they might even have been encountering problems with it.
I can see very little reason for Merc. to hide their pace on purpose, so if their car can go faster, it is most likely to be due to issues keeping them back.
I think they were doing something different. Rosberg was only marginally quicker and Schu was even slower than yesterday.
You get the feeling Red Bull has something left in the tank, but I?m sincerely hoping it?s not a lot. Would love to see an honest to goodness scrap between both Red Bulls & McLarens as long as they don?t take each other out.
I had a dream last night that Hamilton and Vettel took each other out, hmmm?.
so did I, which was a bit weird. Also Webber retired and Button won.
Well, those ?dreams at night? don?t come true?
Hope not, want to see some racing not bumper cars
My reverie is that Hamilton, Vettel and Webber go wheel to wheel for 90+ minutes. May the best man win.
I had a dream that it rained in qualifying and some mistakes were made.
I had a dream that a Predator was after me?
should spice up racing.
Would make a change from hares or deers being on the track
So last year Hamilton was fastest in FP1 and FP2, Webber slightly faster in FP3. This year Webber was fastest in FP1 and FP2, Hamilton slightly faster in FP3. Does that mean Hamilton will get pole in a wet qualifying and be passed by Button into the first corner?
Now that would be a very nice way for things to go!
Hamilton did a one lap run to set his time. Most other drivers stayed out on the soft tyre after they had done their fastest time.
Red Bull will get pole (if it remains dry). It?s just a question of which one.
Just a note to say that Schumacher set his fastest time without the use of DRS.
Ok. But he?s not gonna be closing 2 seconds just by using it!
Yes, he is normally around 10th anyway
I reckon they?ll be competing with the Ferrari?s.
I think Red Bull 1-3 and McLaren 2-4 in Qualifying. Gonna be less than 0.4s separating those four cars. The next best? A second away from P4!
I read that as RBR 1-2-3 at first.. lol.
I?ve predicted Heidfeld as 5th in the race. I think we?ll see his normal pace this weekend
MSC?s best lap today was slower by 0.3 seconds than its best lap yesterday. Why didn?t he use the DRS?
I guess that you can be fairly certain of what time you will make up by using DRS. What probably mattered more to Mercedes is what the car goes like in the race when you are not using DRS on fresh soft tyres.
Red Bull will be well ahead, with maybe McLaren behind, and then Renault, Ferrari etc follwing them.
If it rains, hit the reset button.
VRX why do you ware red bull tinted glasses. I think red bull will prob be slighty ahead but it will be very close with mclaren, doubt they will be ?well ahead?
Yep. I have a feeling Red Bull are confident enough that they were still running heavy and gathering tire data for the race whereas everyone else were doing quali sims.