Red Bull’s Webber on top in final Malaysia GP practice
Australian Mark Webber made the most of running a new engine to clock the fastest time in Saturday’s final free practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
|Last Updated: Apr 03, 2010, 01:16 PM IST|Source: Bureau
Sepang: Australian Mark Webber made the most of running a new engine to clock the fastest time in Saturday’s final free practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver, whose car suffered an engine failure on Friday, outpaced nearest rival Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren by little more than one-hundredth of a second
Webber, 33, who finished a disappointing ninth after colliding with Hamilton at his home race in Melbourne last Sunday, clocked a best lap time of one minute and 33.542 seconds.
Hamilton was second in 1:33.554 ahead of Webber?s Red Bull team-mate German Sebastian Vettel with Spain’s Fernando Alonso fourth for Ferrari and seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher fifth for Mercedes.
Schumacher, 41, back in F1 after a three-years break, was the fifth driver to break the 1:34 barrier this weekend and it was good enough to lift him clear of his team-mate and fellow German Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button was seventh ahead of Brazilians Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari and Rubens Barrichello for Williams.
Poland’s Robert Kubica, who finished second in Melbourne, was 10th for Renault.
The session was run in hot, sultry conditions at the Sepang circuit with Hamilton dominating most of the session after overhauling an early fastest lap by Alonso before Webber went top with just four minutes remaining.
Vettel’s fast lap in the closing minutes proved that even if their reliability is under question this season, the Red Bull boys are still extremely fast -- and Webber is hugely motivated.
He felt down after his failure to capitalise on second on the grid at Albert Park, said team chief Christian Horner, and was keen to go well and prove himself at Sepang.
“Mark’s always gone well here -- he was unlucky last week in Melbourne. He’s motivated. I saw him going for a run this morning, which is pretty intense in these conditions,” he said.
“The most important thing is they’ve both got the pace. Our race objective is simple, we want both drivers at the front of the grid.”
Bureau Report
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