Malaysian F1 GP 2008 - Saturday Practice

March 22nd, 2008

Malaysian F1 GP 2008 - Saturday Practice

The final practice session in Malaysia did not make us any smarter. McLarens seem to have played the same game as they did week ago in Australia. They did not get anywhere near top ten. BMW Sauber show again they are a force to be reckoned with. After pretty quiet session Heidfeld stepped on the gass towards the end and clocked the fastest time. One can expect Kubica being able to do the same should he chose to … Ferraris did better than last week in the final practice. It may be a sign of less troubled weekend for them. Massa has been quicker so far but that may have something to do with fuel loads and race strategy.

Toyotas seem well capable of Q3 and points. Button in Honda continued showing strong pace and may also hope for a place in top 10 in qualifying.

Nelson Piquet is doing much better than last week. It may have something to do with the fact that he knows the Sepang track from his A1 racing here. He outpaced Alonso by few tenths …

Both Red Bulls survived without falling apart. They have been cleared to race this weekend but FIA has said it will continue to review the safety of the suspension of Red Bull Racing’s RB4. The way Coulthard’s suspension disintegrated yesterday (and after the collision with Massa a week ago) suggests there is not everything right with the RB4.

P3 was another good session for Vettel but not so good for his team mate. Both Williams cars were quite far from times needed for top 10, but so were the McLarens …

Tough one to call even without the rain …

Saturday Free Practice Times:

1. N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber - 1:35.019
2. K. Räikkönen - Ferrari - 1:35.262
3. F. Massa - Ferrari - 1:35.388
4. J. Trulli - Toyota - 1:35.389
5. M. Webber - Red Bull - 1:35.437
6. D. Coulthard - Red Bull - 1:35.653
7. N. Piquet - Renault - 1:35.768
8. J. Button - Honda - 1:35.781
9. S. Vettel - Toro Rosso - 1:35.827
10. T. Glock - Toyota - 1:35.911
11. L. Hamilton - McLaren - 1:35.927
12. F. Alonso - Renault - 1:36.068
13. K. Nakajima - Williams - 1:36.183
14. G. Fisichella - Force India - 1:36.229
15. N. Rosberg - Williams - 1:36.490
16. H. Kovalainen - McLaren - 1:36.529
17. R. Kubica - BMW Sauber - 1:36.618
18. S. Bourdais - Toro Rosso - 1:36.668
19. T. Sato - Super Aguri - 1:36.908
20. A. Sutil - Force India - 1:36.939
21. A. Davidson - Super Aguri - 1:37.140
22. R. Barrichello - Honda - 1:37.703