Mark Webber set the fastest time in final practice in front of his home crowd ahead of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver was two tenths of a second quicker than round one winner Fernando Alonso around the Melbourne circuit.
The track was busy more or less throughout the final sector and several drivers complained that getting a clear lap in was difficult. Expect more of the same during qualifying.
Sebastien Buemi was among those held up, almost running into the back of Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber at turn 15.
Both HRTs hit trouble during the session with first Bruno Senna then Karun Chandhok stopping.
Michael Schumacher continued to demonstrate his improved form with the third fastest time ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg. The McLaren duo were sixth and seventh.
Position | Car number | Driver | Car | Best lap | Laps | |
1 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’24.719 | 16 | |
2 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’24.929 | 0.21 | 19 |
3 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’24.963 | 0.244 | 17 |
4 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’25.122 | 0.403 | 19 |
5 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’25.366 | 0.647 | 16 |
6 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’25.399 | 0.68 | 20 |
7 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’25.505 | 0.786 | 14 |
8 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’25.525 | 0.806 | 18 |
9 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’25.549 | 0.83 | 20 |
10 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1’25.782 | 1.063 | 19 |
11 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’25.852 | 1.133 | 17 |
12 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’26.104 | 1.385 | 21 |
13 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1’26.184 | 1.465 | 21 |
14 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’26.275 | 1.556 | 21 |
15 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’26.368 | 1.649 | 17 |
16 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’26.661 | 1.942 | 19 |
17 | 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1’26.804 | 2.085 | 19 |
18 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’26.818 | 2.099 | 18 |
19 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’29.539 | 4.82 | 19 |
20 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1’29.800 | 5.081 | 16 |
21 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’30.800 | 6.081 | 18 |
22 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’31.114 | 6.395 | 12 |
23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1’34.334 | 9.615 | 11 |
24 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1’36.649 | 11.93 | 8 |
Australian Grand Prix free practice summary
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Total laps |
1 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 88.683 | 86.248 | 84.719 | 60 |
2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 87.747 | 89.025 | 84.929 | 60 |
3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 88.55 | 86.511 | 84.963 | 52 |
4 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 87.686 | 89.134 | 85.122 | 61 |
5 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 87.126 | 86.956 | 85.366 | 56 |
6 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 87.482 | 86.076 | 85.399 | 58 |
7 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 87.793 | 85.801 | 85.505 | 49 |
8 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 86.834 | 85.525 | 40 | |
9 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 87.511 | 89.591 | 85.549 | 59 |
10 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 88.192 | 86.835 | 85.782 | 54 |
11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 89.712 | 86.904 | 85.852 | 60 |
12 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 88.014 | 86.832 | 86.104 | 71 |
13 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 86.927 | 87.108 | 86.184 | 71 |
14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 91.588 | 87.455 | 86.275 | 49 |
15 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 88.572 | 90.51 | 86.368 | 81 |
16 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 88.114 | 86.732 | 86.661 | 63 |
17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 90.249 | 87.545 | 86.804 | 70 |
18 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 89.465 | 87.108 | 86.818 | 56 |
19 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 88.537 | 25 | ||
20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 91.654 | 89.86 | 89.539 | 60 |
21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 91.652 | 90.695 | 89.8 | 46 |
22 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 92.831 | 90.8 | 45 | |
23 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 94.925 | 92.117 | 91.114 | 29 |
24 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 93.401 | 96.649 | 32 | |
25 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 94.251 | 94.334 | 31 |
2010 Australian Grand Prix
yelrom
27th March 2010, 4:29
Go Webber! Very quick there, let’s wait and see in qualifying..
anthony
27th March 2010, 4:30
massa sand baging,,,,,i hope
Mike
27th March 2010, 5:35
I would like Massa to do well, But I suspect Alonso will beat him when it counts, which is somewhat to my chagrin.
Alonso is a strong driver, and I think being in Ferrari, His motivation will have been given, a boost, and therefor will be consistent as well as fast.
F1Fan, This is how you push you ideas.
Mike
27th March 2010, 4:34
Great session, really just great, and I’m not sure what you guys here, but the Australian commentators are really getting better, if they keep it up, I might not complain if they were to replace the British…. still I’d miss Brundle…
I saw an interview with Haug and he said something along the lines of “they made a mistake, it shouldn’t happen but it did, I have no problem with it” and that was regarding the Virgin chassis problem.
I really hope the Mercedes is on the pace (even though it would destroy my predictions) If Webber wins I think his reaction would be good to see.
Mike
27th March 2010, 4:36
I can’t spell…. here>hear
oh my qually should be good….
I love this gp ^^
Ben
27th March 2010, 4:53
hahahahhahaha
HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA
Sure having Craig Baird and Beattie are an improvement over McConville, but Greg Rust is literally painful to listen to!
He knows nothing, gets excited at really odd things and at odd times, and is just irritating to listen to.
If they ever replace the BBC commentary with Greg Rust, I will simply stop watching. Done. Gone. They did it at a few races a couple of years ago and it just showed how much superior the British team (ITV at the time, BBC now) are at F1 commentary.
Ben
27th March 2010, 4:55
actually I like Craig Baird a lot, he was excellent during the Le Mans coverage last year and I made the comment to my mate at the time that they should replace McConville with Baird. Glad Ten/One saw it that way too.
But as a commentary team, they don’t compare.
Mike
27th March 2010, 5:41
Rust is, I agree a weak link, but too his credit it looks as though he’s the one who keeps the show moving ^^
The other 2 go really well together, Maybe I over reacted, but Legard isn’t getting any better. and I think he is every bit a numpty of Rust.
and get rid of that silly woman interviewing those silly celebrities….
Maybe it’s not her fault, but the celebrities annoy me,
biggest loser speaks for itself….
and that is contentious…. -,-
MPJ1994
27th March 2010, 8:28
I couldnt agree more about the QANTAS club. They’re interviewing the stupidest of people.
One women was saying how she didnt like the noise of the cars and she couldnt even name one driver apart from Webber. What are you doing at the Grand Prix if you dont like the noise???
I can understand why they cross there because they need to fill in the TV schedual but at least interview some slightly interesting people.
And I agree with your comments about Craig Baird. Massive improvement compared to Cam McConville. Darryl Beattie has also improved this year an hes stopped comparing F1 to MotoGP which he did alot last year. Rust is definately the week link in the commentary team.
Mike
27th March 2010, 13:09
Why couldn’t they get Keith to discuss things instead? I mean, that would be quite a bit more interesting would it not?
Andromeda
27th March 2010, 4:35
This is Webbers race to lose Im sure Vettel hasnt forgotten that he got beat by Webber on his home track. This race is definitely going to be good
Giuseppe
27th March 2010, 4:35
Practice 3 was worth waking up at 3am to watch
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
27th March 2010, 4:39
It’s great to see how with the extra cars on a more normal-length track the drivers really have to work hard to pass traffic and get space for a clean lap. Qualifying is going to be fun (and just think what Monaco will be like!)
Mike
27th March 2010, 4:46
Monaco…. (drools)
yelrom
27th March 2010, 4:47
Has an Aussie ever won there home Grand Prix?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
27th March 2010, 4:52
No, never. There wasn’t one on the calendar in Brabham’s day, and I think Jones only started it twice when he was right at the end of his career in the Haas-Lola.
MPJ1994
27th March 2010, 9:05
Aussies have wone the Australian GP, but not since it has become a part of the world championship. During the telecast today, they said that Jones won it in 1980 if I remember correctly.
yelrom
27th March 2010, 4:54
Imagine Webber’s reaction if he did win..
Icthyes
27th March 2010, 5:07
I hope FOM has a bleeping sound effect!
David A
27th March 2010, 5:33
He has a knack for swearing on live TV doesn’t he!
Mike
27th March 2010, 5:46
I swear I posted that… maybe I wrote it then decided against it….
Weird … Oo
Pradeek
27th March 2010, 4:55
Interesting to see Massa in between the two Force Indias
Varun
27th March 2010, 5:00
Talking of Force India….. they seem to be really doing well and sticking well in the top 10 as they had desired.
Secondly, they are just under 1 second of Webber’s time which is a great achievement.
kowalsky
27th March 2010, 5:31
don’t forget hamilton, he always comes back in quali.
Mike
27th March 2010, 5:56
Just heard some really interesting news, apparently that French group that supplies the FIA’s weather data thinks it’s will start to ran in Q3.
Yay ^^
Pedro
27th March 2010, 7:28
Starting grid graphically:
http://f1news.cz/novinky/34319-grafika-jak-se-piloti-seradi-na-startu-v-melbourne/
Mike
27th March 2010, 12:44
Very nice, thanks for that ^^
Guadalupe Yerly
2nd May 2010, 15:31
Magnificent pal. Its excellent and such an amazing factor. I would add this to my rss feed