Nico Rosberg stole the show at the Australian Grand Prix once again as he asserted his favouritism for the race on Sunday. The Williams driver left it until late in the third practice session to snatch the top time away from the ever improving Toyota team.
The session began slowly once again as it took almost 20 minutes for Nelson Piquet to set the first flying lap in the session. Kimi Raikkonen came out not long after but was forced to pull off to the side of the road with mechanical issues as Ferrari had a mixed session, with Massa finishing an impressive fourth as the Italian outfit made some gains overnight.
Sebastian Vettel once again had a limited session in his new Red Bull, this time with a brake issue in turn one. He sat out the remaining 20 minutes of the session which saw his team mate Mark Webber put in blistering first sectors that could have taken him to the top, but he finished with a slow third sector that saw him end the session in seventh.
McLaren appeared to have made some gains overnight like their rivals Ferrari, but they are still struggling for overall pace and sit 11th and 12th overall and almost a whole second off the pace, which will see them struggle for a top ten qualifying spot, let alone a points paying position on Sunday. Rivals Renault also struggled again and seems to be making up the numbers with Toro Rosso as the small Italian outfit struggled once again to get a grip on the new regulations and tyres.
Force India had a disappointing time in comparison to their previous efforts managing to get as high as 14th after impressing early on in the session, while BMW took their place up the top end with some better performances, but like McLaren are still off the pace for a win in Melbourne.
The Toyota team were once again impressive around the Albert Park circuit as Jarno Trulli looked to have taken the fastest time but was narrowly pipped by three thousandths of a second to slot into second position. Timo Glock had a good start to the session but could not get a clean lap late and ended in eighth.
After announcing a new livery in the afternoon prior to practice, the Brawn GP team set out to show Sir Richard Branson that they are grateful for his Virgin sponsorship. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello both sat atop the standings in the session at one point or another, with Button turning in consistently fast lap times on the option tyre. He finished in an impressive third, while the veteran Barrichello rounded out a great day in sixth.
All this action sets up an intriguing qualifying that could see no McLaren cars in the top ten for the first time in a long time, but could see the first pole position for Williams since Nick Heidfeld at the European Grand Prix in 2005. So stay tuned to live coverage of qualifying on UpdateF1
Written: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:40:49
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