Prac Three: Heidfeld trumps Ferrari duo

Saturday 22nd March 2008

Nick Heidfeld was the surprise name at the top of the timesheet after the BMW driver went quickest during final practice for the Malaysian GP.

With the two Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren proving the dominant force on Friday, the German's time of 1:35.019 outpaced them all at Sepang ahead of qualifying for the second race of the season.

Raikkonen finished second, over two tenths of a second down on Heidfeld, and Massa third but Hamilton had a low-key outing, ending the hour-long session down in 11th, and trailing by 0.908 seconds.

Raikkonen set the early pace with a time of 1:35.886 before knocking a further tenth of a second off that mark, while team-mate Massa kept in touch in second.

The Brazilian then hit the front with a lap of 1:35.513 before lowering that by a tenth with Raikkonen nearly two tenths back.

Hamilton ran wide at turn eight as he struggled to set a competitive time before Heidfeld, looking to build on his second place in Australia last Sunday, went top with minutes remaining ahead of Raikkonen, who set a time of 1:35.262 and Massa, who was a further tenth back from his team-mate.

Jarno Trulli was fourth in the Toyota, while Red Bull duo Mark Webber and David Coulthard put their earlier troubles behind them by finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

Nelson Piquet Jr was seventh for Renault while Jenson Button, who played down expectations after a positive showing on Friday, finished eighth in his Honda.

Times
01 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:35.019 18 laps
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:35.262 17 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:35.388 17 laps
04 J. Trulli Toyota 1:35.389 20 laps
05 M. Webber Red Bull 1:35.437 16 laps
06 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:35.653 17 laps
07 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:35.768 15 laps
08 J. Button Honda 1:35.781 19 laps
09 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:35.827 16 laps
10 T. Glock Toyota 1:35.911 21 laps
11 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:35.927 13 laps
12 F. Alonso Renault 1:36.068 14 laps
13 K. Nakajima Williams 1:36.183 14 laps
14 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:36.229 21 laps
15 N. Rosberg Williams 1:36.490 7 laps
16 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:36.529 16 laps
17 R. Kubica BMW 1:36.618 19 laps
18 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:36.668 15 laps
19 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:36.908 14 laps
20 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:36.939 21 laps
21 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:37.140 12 laps
22 R. Barrichello Honda 1:37.703 6 laps

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