The final practice session ahead of the all-important qualifying hour saw Nick Heidfeld make a late run in Shanghai to claim the top position with a best lap of 1:36.061s, 0.074s ahead of the seemingly dominant Lewis Hamilton.
The BMW Sauber driver, along with team-mate Robert Kubica, struggled for pace for much of the session before vaulting to the top of the timesheets in the closing minutes of the practice session. As ever, we do not know what fuel loads the drivers opted to take for their fastest runs but traditionally in this session, some opt to run light while others concentrate on their pace with fuel on board to simulate the final round of qualifying.
While Hamilton missed out on making it three from three in terms of the fastest time, the McLaren Mercedes driver spent a majority of the session at the head of the timesheets first with the harder compound of Bridgestone Potenza, and then later with the softer option tyre. Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was fourth fastest behind the second BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica.
German Heidfeld set the pace with a lap of one minute 36.061 seconds on a sunny morning at the 5.451km Shanghai circuit but Hamilton, who could win the Formula One world title in Sunday’s race, was close behind.
The 23-year-old never matched the pace he achieved to dominate Friday’s first two sessions but his best lap of 1.36.135 was still seven tenths of a second faster than his main championship rival, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.
Brazilian Massa, who trails Hamilton by five points with 20 up for grabs in Shanghai and at the season finale in Sao Paolo, was only able to record the 12th quickest time in 1:36.842.
Jarno Trulli jumped up to fifth with 1m 36.396s for Toyota, and yet again the times were very close all the way down to 16th place. Nico Rosberg was sixth on 1m 36.427s for Williams, then came Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais (1m 36.642s), Red Bull’s David Coulthard (1m 36.712s), Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima (1m 36.713s), Renault’s Nelson Piquet (1m 36.789s), Honda’s Rubens Barrichello (1m 36.839s), Ferrari’s Felipe Massa (1m 36.842s) and Kimi Raikkonen (1m 36.901s), Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel (1m 36.902s), Honda’s Jenson Button (1m 36.958s) and Renault’s Fernando Alonso (1m 36.996s). Timo Glock was 17th on 1m 37.053s in the Toyota.
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