Free Practice 3 – Alonso dances the samba in front of the McLarens

As yesterday during the second practice session, Fernando Alonso at the wheel of his R28 delivered a superb performance. He is once again the undisputed leader of this third free practice session taking place as part of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix. The last event of the season suits the 2005 and 2006 world champion quite well.

The Spaniard is followed by the two McLaren-Mercedes drivers with Hamilton ahead of Kovalainen. The British team has taken the upper hand over Ferrari as Massa and Räikkönen are further down in the standings. The Brazilian is in fourth position.

The two stars of this weekend, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, immediately took the advantage over the other drivers. Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Räikkönen were then pushed back to third and fourth positions.

Hamilton was immediately faster than Massa with a time of 1:12.278 compared to 1:12.427 for the Brazilian.

For the two protagonists of this Grand Prix, it was then difficult to improve their times. They made minor errors in their second sector.

When the drivers equipped themselves with soft tires for the final part of this practice session, it was the McLarens that were the best. Kovalainen was briefly faster than his teammate, but Hamilton ultimately beat him by 0.013 seconds. The Briton delivered a remarkable performance despite encountering traffic in the second sector.

Massa was a few thousandths of a second behind Hamilton in the first two-thirds of his lap but lost time in the final sector. He crossed the line a tenth of a second behind his championship rival.

As yesterday, during the second free practice session, Alonso in a last gasp and especially with little fuel becomes the leader. The Spanish driver beats Hamilton by 0.071 seconds in 1:12.141, pushing Kovalainen and Massa into third and fourth positions.

Toro Rosso had a good session, remaining consistent throughout. Ultimately, it’s fifth and seventh places for Sebastian Vettel and Sébastien Bourdais. They are separated by Nick Heidfeld’s BMW.

Mark Webber takes eighth place with Red Bull, ahead of Nelson Piquet for Renault and Jarno Trulli with his Toyota.

Having failed to improve his time with his soft tires, Räikkönen finishes only 12th aboard the second Ferrari behind Rosberg (Williams) and ahead of Glock (Toyota). Kubica is 14th followed by Nakajima and Coulthard. The two Honda drivers and then Force India bring up the rear.

Free Practice 3 Results – Brazilian GP – November 1, 2008