Alonso fastest in final practice

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Fernando Alonso is the fastest man in Bahrain ahead of qualifying

A third different car headed the third practice session ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso lapped the extended Bahrain circuit in 1’54.099 to head the times by almost three-tenths of a second.

Nico Rosberg, fastest in yesterday’s session, was second for Mercedes.

Felipe Massa was fastest for much of the session but his final effort was only good enough for sixth.

World champion Jenson Button was seventh for McLaren but team mate Lewis Hamilton could only manage 12th after ending his session early to have a brake change.

At the back of the grid Karun Chandhok failed to set a time and faced being unable to start qualifying.

Another of the new teams was in trouble – Timo Glock’s Virgin shed a wheel during the session and team mate Lucas di Grassi failed to set a time.

PositionCar numberDriverCarBest lapLaps
18Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’54.09914
24Nico RosbergMercedes1’54.3680.26913
36Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’54.5000.40115
43Michael SchumacherMercedes1’54.5330.43413
55Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’54.6460.54716
67Felipe MassaFerrari1’54.7390.6414
71Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’55.0000.90114
811Robert KubicaRenault1’55.3311.23215
915Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’55.4321.33311
1010Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’55.4611.36213
1114Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’55.5211.42213
122Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’55.8601.7618
1322Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’56.0631.96414
149Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’56.2592.16015
1516Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’56.2952.19617
1617Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’56.5042.40516
1723Kamui KobyashiSauber-Ferrari1’56.5302.43114
1812Vitaly PetrovRenault1’56.8112.71216
1924Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’59.1735.07410
2019Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’59.7895.6915
2118Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth2’01.2597.165
2221Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth2’04.0019.90211
2325Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth2
2420Karun ChandhokHRT-Cosworth

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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34 comments on “Alonso fastest in final practice”

  1. I’d love someone not from the big four to end on pole. Kubica is the closest from the midfield pack, so that’s fine by me :P

    1. whos on pole????????

  2. still can’t figure out who is leading even after 3 practice sessons…boy’o’boy….Chewing away my thumbnails guessing who will come on top…

    1. There’s no doubt the Big Four are the fastest, with Ferrari most probably leading the pack.
      As Victor said in the opening comment – I think Kubica is the one to chase them.

  3. Karun hasn’t even completed a lap (let alone a times lap) yet this weekend, as far as I can tell.

    Any ideas why this may be? Anyone heard anything from the track?

    1. *timed, not times

      sorry, been sitting in the sun at a track watching racing all day, kinda buggered.

    2. Prisoner Monkeys
      13th March 2010, 9:47

      Hydraulics problem. It’s plagued him all weekend.

      1. Hydraulics can be put on a list of problems that must go on for at least 3 pages. Did anyone expect anything else from a team that has had more owners than it has completed laps?

    3. According to autosport, the car couldnt find any gear, so he was unable to complete a lap in any practice session, and therefore is unable to take part in qualifying due to some rule.

  4. I hope McLaren do better than that in the actual qualifying. At least Red Bull were up to pace on this practice though. Still unpredictable.

    Poor Chandhok.

    1. looks like macca is bit slowet than ferrari and merc. we’ll se in less than 1,5h.
      nice surprise from renault… looks like they are the best from the rest… or maybe its just kubica good perf.

  5. Will Chandhok be able to race then? If not, this is pretty sad. He should be at least allowed to race and start from the pit lane or something.

    1. He will not be allowed to race and that is completely fair. He can’t start the race without driving a single lap before that. That would be just stupid.

    2. If he can start qualifying (which counts as a practice session under the rules) then he can start the race.

      1. Would just rolling out of the pits count as starting the qualifying? Or does he need a complete lap?

  6. Younger Hamilton
    13th March 2010, 9:58

    The Two Mclarens are losing time in that second sector about a couple of tenths

  7. Being an Indian, i feel very sorry for Chandak

    1. You could start by getting the name right.

  8. for chandhok race weekend is over.

  9. He is unable to finish qualifying so does that mean he will start last on the grid?

    1. He won’t be allowed to race – so there will only be 23 drivers on the grid on sunday (or maybe even less).

  10. In his best lap Rosberg was doing the best times in sector 1 and 2 and failed in sector 3. It’s very close, that 0.3 gap from Alonso it’s not realistic. Everything is going to change in Qualifying.

  11. I wonder what the race is going to be like. Might as well put GP2 cars in the same race, atleast those will be reliable.

  12. So hers’s what I’m wondering heading into qualifying:

    Can Nico Hülkenberg keep up his Barrichello-beating form?

    Does Schumacher have some pace in hand or is Barrichello really ahead of him?

    How badly has this brake problem upset Hamilton?

    Assuming the top eight is occupied by Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull, who gets the other two places? Kubica and Liuzzi look like good bets.

    1. “Does Schumacher have some pace in hand or is Barrichello really ahead of him?” Is that supposed to be Rosberg instead of Barrichello?

      On another note, HRT are edging closer to being within 107% of the fastest time anyway courtesy of Bruno Senna. But he still needs to improve by around one second. I hope they get it up to speed by around Spain! Come on HRT, we’re all behind you!

    2. I think you mean Rosberg not Barrichello in the 3rd question.

      I think Schumacher is genuinely slower than Rosberg, atleast at the Baharin weekend. This is going to grab q lot of headlines though.

      But remember, Rosberg likes the Baharin track, he got the fastest lap here in his very first race.

      May be next weekend, Michael may be quicker, but for qualifying today, definitely Rosberg is beating Schumacher.

      For pole, I would say Alonso, Hamilton or Massa in order of increasing probability

      1. Yes but remember who has the undefeated lap record for this track.

  13. i feel sorry for HRT !
    And i think McLaren, who appeared like angels just couple of days ago with their statement about accepting new teams and “helping them” should put their leg down and help HRT with Chandhok’s car!
    Or was that just silly talking and PR bullshi*?

  14. i think Schumi is not gonna be going for strong qualifying, he will be focusing only on getting a strong car for the race… and making sure the tyres are in shape for a longer period…

    since it’s all too tight for HRT for this race, i’ll only judge them on next race onwards… i feel in F1 team need to be prepared with the basics of the car… there need to be a minimum performance expectations in terms of speed and reliability… and all this must be confirmed before the season begins… not at the 1st race…. in my opinion this spoils the show!!

    having said that, i hope they can sort this out and fight with the other new teams…

  15. I’m using my mobile phone at the moment so I have flash and graphics turned off most of the time so I can’t join the live session, but I cant help but say Hurray qualifying on the way finally.

  16. Alonso the fastest one, but not on the pole..

  17. does any one know who is on pole position today???????
    cant wait to watch it????

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