Red Bull driver Mark Webber buoyed home fans by recording the quickest lap in final practice at the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Webber, bidding to become Australia’s first home winner, topped the timesheets with 16 minutes left in the hour-long session, then improved his mark twice to lap the Albert Park street circuit in one minute 24.719 under an overcast sky. Times of India
Vitaly Petrov, was among the first to complete a timed lap after one failed attempt, where he lost the rear-end of his Renault during the turn in to the penultimate corner.
Mark Webber Fastest in Final Practice at Albert Park
The Russian recorded a 1m28.5 to go quickest overall in the early stages and bettered that time on his second flying lap, before being eclipsed by Felipe Massa in the Ferrari, who went quicker with a 1m27.190 while working on qualifying simulations.
Both Massa and Fernando Alonso worked exclusively on race simulations during Friday practice and languished down the tail end of the leaderboard, along with the new entries to the F1 grid, but began Saturday with qualifying simulations.
Sebastien Vettel was the first of the day to enter the 1m26s, snatching the top spot on the timesheets from Massa, however, the pace was increased further when Lewis Hamilton broke into the 1m25s with a 1m25.706. Auto Racing Daily
POS DRIVER ENTRANT TIME 1 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 01:24.7 2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:24.9 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:25.0 4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 01:25.1 5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:25.4 6 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:25.4 7 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:25.5 8 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:25.5 9 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:25.5 10 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 01:25.8 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:25.9 12 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:26.1 13 Robert Kubica Renault 01:26.2 14 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:26.3 15 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:26.4 16 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:26.7 17 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 01:26.8 18 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:26.8 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 01:29.5 20 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:29.8 21 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 01:30.8 22 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:31.1 23 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 01:34.3 24 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 01:36.6
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