Webber edges Hamilton in final practice

33 comments on “Webber edges Hamilton in final practice”

1. 

   Giuseppe
   3rd April 2010, 7:23

   I missed FP3 because according to BBC Sport it was supposed to start at 6:55. AArgh, waking up early for nothing!!
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      3rd April 2010, 7:30

      I hate to make things worse but I did point this out earlier in the week: Malaysian Grand Prix TV & live blog times
      1. 

         Giuseppe
         3rd April 2010, 7:39

         F1Fanatic will now be my One Stop Shop for everything F1. Its that good
   2. 

      haha
      3rd April 2010, 7:47

      lol, I also planned for the same time only catch the end of the practice. Also, BBC Player failed me cos it kept circling ound trying to load video and that is me with a fast broadband. Never had problems like this before.
      1. 

         MigueLP
         3rd April 2010, 7:53

         i also had problems with the player specially on the start of the session
   3. 

      MigueLP
      3rd April 2010, 8:04

      it was clear that williams were preparing the race in sepang the weather is unpredictable so it seems obvious to try to find a racing set up asap quali may not be crucial and also last year rosberg williams ran very well at start. im only surprised with hamilton i wasnt expecting him still on the top really out performing his team mate likewise alonso
2. 

   VXR
   3rd April 2010, 7:25

   Interesting that Webber and Hamilton find themselves heading practice sessions. Bridgestone have just revealed that both of those drivers “had to do a two-stop” in Melbourne.

   http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82635
   1. 

      US_Peter
      3rd April 2010, 7:35

      Very interesting. I remember Hamilton on radio saying his tires were going off (after his second pit) and thinking there’s no way he would’ve made it without that second pit. Seconds later he was on the radio again cursing his team for calling him in. What’s even more interesting in that article is that Bridgestone said Alonso took the best care of his tires.
      1. 

         VXR
         3rd April 2010, 7:37

         The Ferrari has always been the kindest car to its tyres all through pre-season testing and this will be a major factor in the championship.
         1. 

            MigueLP
            3rd April 2010, 7:55

            and in 2007 and 08 they were only performing on the harder tracks because of that factor
   2. 

      Magnificent Geoffrey
      3rd April 2010, 7:43

      Are we to imply from this that both Mark and Lewis are simply going too fast? I’m not forgetting the fact that last weekend was a very rare scenario for the teams and drivers to deal with but I’m just a little bit concerned that the need to conserve tyres is now more crucial to a racing situation than out-and-out pace. That’s a factor more suitable to endurance-racing and I don’t like the idea that the ‘quicker’ drivers are shooting themselves in the foot by pushing too hard.

      Obviously tyre management is a crucial factor for every driver with this year’s regulations, but if these rules mean that there’s a greater emphasis on backing off slightly and conserving tyres over pushing “like a hell” for the entire race distance – I can’t see that helping the ‘racing’ situation at all.

      I imagine I’m probably just repeating what people said after Bahrain, but it seems as though one-stopping with a very long second-stint on the hard tyres is the only way to go for the front-runners in a dry, Safety Car free race…and I honestly can’t see that being a effective catalyst for overtaking at all.
      1. 

         Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
         3rd April 2010, 7:51

         I think we’re just two races into the season and no-one really knows yet.

         What happened in Australia was largely reactive. Button found himself in the lead with no need to pit and gambled on getting to the end without another stop. Hamilton had passed several cars and probably hurt his tyres a lot more doing so, so he took an extra stop.
         1. 

            Pradeek
            3rd April 2010, 7:55

            “Hamilton had passed several cars and probably hurt his tyres a lot more doing so, so he took an extra stop.”
            Hamilton’s drive was a case in point. Overtaking was possible but at the cost of tyre wear. This problem will be more pronounced once we get to more fully dry races. I fully expect dry races to be more like bahrain.
   3. 

      Icthyes
      3rd April 2010, 7:49

      Interesting new perspective. I wonder if Hamilton knew his tyres were near-terminal before his first stop? He knew they were towards the end, but he’d probably have assumed that was because he was pushing like hell for the latter part of the race.

      If he did know the score before the first stop, then his criticism of the team becomes rather less impressive (let no-one say I’m a Hamilton fanboy!).
   4. 

      DMW
      3rd April 2010, 14:26

      But article goes on to say that Button’ tires were also shot and it was actually “dangerous” for him to have gone that long. If Button had slid off a la Hamilton in China a couple years back on busted tires, he and the Team would be mercilessly criticized. If Hamilton had got by Kubica, possibly he would have been in a position to take the former’s pace and hold out till the end too. As for the Ferrari their approach of letting Fred nurse his tires till the end almost cost them two spots to Hamilton. This is to say, these strategic calls were all very close and Bridgestone’s statement supplies little in terms of constructive hindsight.
3. 

   Pradeek
   3rd April 2010, 7:30

   Expecting Vettel on pole….
4. 

   VXR
   3rd April 2010, 7:31

   Expecting it to rain a lot…..
5. 

   US_Peter
   3rd April 2010, 7:37

   Hoping for Vettel on pole…

   Hoping for it to rain a lot…
6. 

   bob
   3rd April 2010, 7:39

   Schumi finally beats Rosberg :D
   If it rains then HRT, Virgin and Lotus have chance to get into Q2
   1. 

      Robbie
      3rd April 2010, 9:28

      Lotus managed it…
      1. 

         bob
         3rd April 2010, 10:23

         Virgin also managed to get P16
7. 

   VXR
   3rd April 2010, 7:41

   If it rains there might not be a Q2!
   1. 

      bob
      3rd April 2010, 7:42

      WHy? How it is actually possible?
   2. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      3rd April 2010, 7:49

      It wouldn’t surprise me if, after all the talk of rain and the hangover from last year, it turns out we don’t see a drop!

      That said looking at the weather forecasts it looks like we are going to get rain.
      1. 

         bob
         3rd April 2010, 7:55

         But are u actually thinking that after Q1 qualifying will be stopped and over?
         1. 

            BBT
            3rd April 2010, 8:02

            You never know we could see Sunday morning qualifying.
            1. 

               Icthyes
               3rd April 2010, 8:05

               I’ll be amazed (okay, disappointed) if, after what happened in Brazil last year, the FIA haven’t come up with a fixed back-up plan.
8. 

   Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
   3rd April 2010, 7:52

   That looks like a good lap from Glock – 1.5s clear of di Grassi and ahead of both the Lotuses.
   1. 

      bob
      3rd April 2010, 7:53

      im gonna start making top50 now. Whats the email? :)
   2. 

      Pradeek
      3rd April 2010, 7:58

      And just around 0.8 sec behind the Sauber of Kobayashi. Great drive…
      1. 

         bob
         3rd April 2010, 8:08

         yeah, but the same way we can say that Sauber drove badly
9. 

   Dev
   3rd April 2010, 8:13

   so if the qualification get cancelled cause of rain, do they use FP3 times for the grid line up?
   1. 

      bob
      3rd April 2010, 8:29

      No way. They will wait some 3 hours and drive under the twilight

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