Free Practice 3 – Glock fares best in the rain

Timo Glock set the fastest time during the last practice session at Monza this morning. The drivers were once again faced with difficult weather conditions.

Heavy rain prevented anyone from getting a ‘fin’ on the track, but Glock managed to complete a few laps at the beginning of the session, setting a time of 1:35.785.

Sebastian Vettel is his closest pursuer in 1:36.129, but neither of the two Germans could improve their time and all the cars returned to the pits in the hope that the rain would ease somewhat.

The track was already wet when the session began, but Rubens Barrichello chose to stay away and was the first to record a time of 1:40.484. Glock then arrived in the following two laps to set what turned out to be the best time of the morning.

With only half an hour remaining, there were still a few drivers completing their installation laps, notably the two McLarens and Sébastien Bourdais’ Toro Rosso, while Kimi Räikkönen only completed 3 laps about 6 seconds behind the leader.

Bourdais was one of the first to attempt to improve his time along with Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld, but the dreadful conditions and the reliability of the intermediate tires quickly forced them back to the pits.

10 minutes before the end of the session, Lewis Hamilton finally arrived on the circuit, but the fact that he set a time 15 seconds slower than Glock’s shows the conditions in which the drivers were operating…

Hamilton improved his time somewhat, but it was clear that there was no point in being heroic ahead of the afternoon’s qualifying.

As a result, the checkered flag fell with Kimi Räikkönen, Heikki Kovalainen, and Lewis Hamilton in the last three positions. Behind Glock and Vettel are Rosberg, Trulli, and Nakajima. The BMWs are in 6th and 12th places while Alonso is in 9th position, Piquet in 14th, and Bourdais in 17th.

The drivers did so few laps throughout these tests that big surprises are expected in qualifying.

Results Free Practice 3 – Italian GP – September 13, 2008