Final practice - Vettel moves ahead in Valencia
Sebastian Vettel ended up where his rivals feared he would in Valencia’s final practice session on Saturday morning, almost half a second clear of the field.
The German reasserted himself in the closing stages after Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa had set the two fastest times for Ferrari. He took his Red Bull round in 1m 37.258s, comfortably eclipsing Alonso’s 1m 37.678s and Massa’s 1m 37.840s.
Behind them, Mark Webber was just outside that bracket in fourth place with 1m 38.068s, chased by Jenson Button on 1m 38.326s in the quicker McLaren, Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes on 1m 38.580s and a troubled Lewis Hamlton on 1m 38.741s. The latter lost a possibly quicker lap when he came across Michael Schumacher recovering from a moment in the final sector, but still isn’t happy with his McLaren’s balance. The multiple champion, meanwhile, was eighth on 1m 38.799s, before spinning trying to improve on that.
The Renaults completed the top 10, with Vitaly Petrov leading Nick Heidfeld, 1m 38.822s to 1m 39.113s. Behind them, Adrian Sutil survived a territorial dust-up with Pastor Maldonado to take 11th place for Force India on 1m 39.411s, ahead of Sergio Perez’s Sauber on 1m 39.778s and team mate Paul di Resta who did a solid job to recover yesterday’s lost track time with 1m 39.823s.
Kamui Kobayashi spun his Sauber in the final corner right at the end, damaging the front wing as he tried to improve on 1m 39.848s, then came Sebastien Buemi on 1m 39.888s for Toro Rosso, and the Williams of Rubens Barrichello and Maldonado. The Brazilian lapped in 1m 39.987s, the Venezuelan in 1m 40.004s.
Jaime Alguersuari was 18th in the second Toro Rosso on 1m 40.239s, then Heikki Kovalainen led Team Lotus team mate Jarno Trulli in 19th slot, 1m 41.267s to 1m 41.690s. Timo Glock was Virgin’s lead runner with 1m 42.557s, then there was a gap to Tonio Liuzzi who put his HRT ahead of Jerome D’Ambrosio’s Virgin, 1m 43.243s to 1m 43.309s. Narain Karthikeyan brought up the rear with 1m 44.630s in the second HRT.
Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)
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