Formula One news
Trulli fastest in final Suzuka practice
03 October 2009 / Results / PhotosJarno Trulli pleased Japanese Toyota fans by setting the leading time as the field finally received the chance to run on a dry track at Suzuka on Saturday morning. The Italian led the way, just stealing the top spot from Switzerland's Sébastien Buemi, with Nico Rosberg third. Brawn GP finished seventh and ninth.
With Friday having been a washout at Suzuka, the 20 drivers finally enjoyed a dry track - albeit with some wet patches - in the hour-long final session. With ambient temperatures at 25°C (77°F) on Saturday morning, the track surface had reached 36°C (97°F) come the end of the session.
Buemi's Toro Rosso was the pace-setter for much of the session, pipped only by Trulli and a margin of 62 thousandths of a seconds at the conclusion of the hour; the 2009 rookie was particularly comfortable in the first sector although the same could not be said for championship leader Jenson Button, who appeared to struggled with the rapid change of direction through The Esses.
The trio of World Champions experienced contrasting fortunes; Lewis Hamilton is struggling for rear-end grip on the circuit he loves and finished the session 16th for McLaren. Former team-mate Fernando Alonso remained at the bottom of the timesheets for much of the hour before rising to 13th in the Renault although the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen was by far the most comfortable, hardly changing his car setup for the duration of final practice.
Three drivers were in the wars; Nick Heidfeld half-spun the BMW at the Turn 11 hairpin with Romain Grosjean following suit at the Casio Triangle. The biggest casualty, however, was the Red Bull of Mark Webber; the Australian went straight on to collide with the barriers at Degner before gesticulating angrily upon climbing from the car.
Timo Glock was back in action, having come down with air conditioning flu and being replaced by Toyota test driver Kamui Kobayashi on Friday; the German wound up in a respectable 14th place.
Trulli eventually posted the fastest time of 1:31.709 - almost ten seconds quicker than Friday - in the last knockings as Buemi, Rosberg, Vettel and Räikkönen rounded out the top five. With Sutil, Barrichello and Kovalainen next up, eight different constructors finished in the top eight places.
Qualifying for the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix can also be followed live on GPUpdate.net; the session begins at 2pm local time (BST +8 / GMT +9).
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