GP – Free Practice 3: Renault engines celebrate

Mark Webber was faster during the last practice session of the Turkish Grand Prix. The Australian was able to withstand the attacks from Fernando Alonso (2nd) and his teammate David Coulthard (3rd).

Since the beginning of the season, the title contenders seem to be working on this practice session with a heavy fuel load. Felipe Massa in the Ferrari finishes in fifth place, behind Williams driver Nico Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton was the best McLaren driver with a seventh place while championship leader Kimi Räikkönen is only 11th.

The session started slowly because the track was quite wet after heavy showers that had occurred earlier in the morning. After their installation lap, the drivers returned to the pits to give the circuit time to dry completely. It was finally Timo Glock (Toyota) who was the most daring. He set off with only 40 minutes remaining.

The German sets a benchmark time of 1’30”427. A time 1.6 seconds slower than his best lap set yesterday in dry conditions. From that moment, the drivers try to make up for lost time on a track that is improving by the second.

Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso, Nelson Piquet (Renault) and Räikkönen take turns leading the operations within a span of ten minutes. But it is ultimately Massa who hits the hardest with a time of 1’27”530.

As was the case yesterday, the Ferraris had to wait several laps to find a suitable rhythm while their direct competitors immediately found speed.

Massa stayed in the lead for nearly fifteen minutes until Coulthard confirmed his good form on this Istanbul Park track by improving the Ferrari driver’s time by 0.190 seconds with only eight minutes remaining. The only man capable of beating the Scotsman is his teammate. Indeed, Webber completed a lap in the last two minutes with a 0.3-second advantage.

Coulthard, while reducing the gap by 190 thousandths, cannot come back and even gets overtaken by Alonso. Leading in the first sector, the Spaniard is 0.142 seconds from Webber’s time.

Rosberg finishes, therefore, in fourth place, ahead of Massa and Jarno Trulli for Toyota. Hamilton, Glock, Jenson Button (Honda), and Piquet complete the top ten.

Räikkönen is 11th. His error at turn 1 was one of the few attractions of the session, just like Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) at turn 6 and Sébastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) at turn 10.

Free Practice 3 Results – 2008 Turkish GP