Hamilton fastest in final practice session
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time on Saturday morning with a 1:36.340. Mark Webber was second, 0.290 seconds adrift of the Briton. Jenson Button (+0.422), Nick Heidfeld (+0.775) and Sebastian Vettel (+0.835) completed the top five. On his fastest lap, the German Red Bull driver faced some traffic, though.
Ferrari seem to have difficulties matching the pace of the frontrunners with Fernando Alonso 0.944 and Felipe Massa 1.422 seconds behind Hamilton. It is possible, however, that Ferrari was on heavier fuel load.
The Mercedes team does not look comfortable around the Malaysian race track. Unless rain plays into their hands, a grid position within the first two or three rows would be a surprise for Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.
Lotus Renault struggled on Friday, but seem to be back on pace with Nick Heidfeld forth (+0.775) and Vitaly Petrov seventh (+0.957).
Vettel had some difficulties with the DRS on Saturday.
The Hispania drivers might find it difficult to qualify for the race once again. The time limit according to the 107 percent rule for this Saturday morning session would have been a 1:43.084, a time which both Liuzzi and Karthikeyan did not achieve. What could help them, though, is the fact that the fastest drivers usually do their laps on the prime tyre in Q1.
Friday Practice 3 - Final Results
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Pos.
Driver
Nat.
Team
Time
Gap
Laps
1
Lewis Hamilton
British
McLaren
1:36.340
11
2
Mark Webber
Australian
Red Bull
1:36.630
+0.290
16
3
Jenson Button
British
McLaren
1:36.762
+0.422
14
4
Nick Heidfeld
German
Lotus Renault
1:37.115
+0.775
17
5
Sebastian Vettel
German
Red Bull
1:37.175
+0.835
14
6
Fernando Alonso
Spanish
Ferrari
1:37.284
+0.944
11
7
Vitaly Petrov
Russian
Lotus Renault
1:37.297
+0.957
17
8
Felipe Massa
Brazilian
Ferrari
1:37.762
+1.422
12
9
Kamui Kobayashi
Japanese
Sauber
1:38.059
+1.719
18
10
Michael Schumacher
German
Mercedes
1:38.300
+1.960
20
11
Nico Rosberg
German
Mercedes
1:38.307
+1.967
20
12
Sergio Perez
Mexican
Sauber
1:38.448
+2.108
17
13
Adrian Sutil
German
Force India
1:38.464
+2.124
16
14
Pastor Maldonado
Venezuelan
Williams
1:38.597
+2.257
15
15
Sebastien Buemi
Swiss
Toro Rosso
1:38.665
+2.325
14
16
Rubens Barrichello
Brazilian
Williams
1:38.681
+2.341
16
17
Jaime Alguersuari
Spanish
Toro Rosso
1:38.716
+2.376
14
18
Paul di Resta
Scottish
Force India
1:38.864
+2.524
13
19
Heikki Kovalainen
Finnish
Team Lotus
1:39.260
+2.920
19
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20
Jarno Trulli
Indian
Team Lotus
1:39.699
+3.359
15
21
Jerome D'Ambrosio
Belgian
Virgin
1:41.215
+4.875
17
22
Timo Glock
German
Virgin
1:41.414
+5.074
18
23
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Italian
Hispania
1:43.147
+6.807
6
24
Narain Karthikeyan
Indian
Hispania
1:43.383
+7.043
11
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