Formula 1 News

Webber on top in final practice

After signing for another year with Red Bull the Aussie finished again with the best time in the third session.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

SPa-francorchamps, Belgium, Aug 27, 2011 (AFP) - Australian Mark Webber had good reason to smile on Saturday morning after he topped the times in final free practice ahead of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver was not only the fastest man around the spectacular and challenging Spa-Francorchamps circuit in cold and wet conditions, but did so on his 35th birthday when it was confirmed he had signed a contract extension for 2012.

Webber clocked a best time of two minutes and 8.988 seconds to outpace nearest rival Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, the 2008 champion, by just 0.058 seconds.

Spaniard Jaime Aluguersuari was third fastest in his Toro Rosso, nearly a second behind.

Next came Hamilton's McLaren team-mate and compatriot Jenson Button and championship leader and defending champion German Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull.

Swiss Sebastien Buemi in the second Red Bull was sixth ahead of Germans Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and Adrian Sutil of Force India, newly-promoted Brazilian Bruno Senna of Renault and seven-times champion German MichaelSchumacher, 42, who is enjoying the 20th anniversary of his F1 debut this weekend, in the second Mercedes.

Two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team chose to take no serious part in the rain-hit session and preserved their tyres. Alonso did not clock a time.

See times bellow:

BELGIAN GRAND PRIX PRACTICE 3 TIMES (FP3)
POS	No.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	2	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	2:08.988		7
2	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	2:09.046	0.058	8
3	19	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	2:09.931	0.943	16
4	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	2:10.257	1.269	7
5	1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	2:10.402	1.414	9
6	18	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	2:10.580	1.592	15
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	2:10.837	1.849	12
8	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	2:11.437	2.449	13
9	9	Bruno Senna	Renault	2:11.664	2.676	14
10	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	2:11.667	2.679	10
11	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	2:11.874	2.886	13
12	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	2:13.036	4.048	15
13	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	2:13.074	4.086	12
14	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	2:13.182	4.194	12
15	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	2:13.290	4.302	15
16	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	2:13.778	4.790	12
17	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	2:14.334	5.346	14
18	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	2:14.682	5.694	11
19	25	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	2:17.159	8.171	12
20	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	2:18.039	9.051	10
21	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	2:19.001	10.013	12
22	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	2:19.597	10.609	14
23	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	2:22.454	13.466	7
24	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	No time		5