Alonso fastest in final practice

Fernando Alonso went quickest at the end of Bahrain GP’s final practice session.

The Spaniard made his intentions clear with an impressive fastest lap of 1’54’’099 near the end of the session. He was 0.269s quicker than Mercedes GP’s driver Nico Rosberg. Mark Webber was third ahead of Michael Schumacher. Sebastian Vettel was fifth fastest but could have been a bit higher up the order had he not made a mistake in what should have been his fastest lap.

This morning session was the last opportunity for teams and drivers to get everything ready for the all important qualifying session. It was no surprise then to see them conclude practice with some low-fuel runs.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t get this opportunity though. The McLaren driver had to sit out the last fifteen minutes of the session because of a front left brake duct failure.

The Virgin Racing Team experienced more troubles this morning. Lucs di Grassi spent most part of the session in the pits because of a gearbox problem ( no seventh gear and slow gear changes) while Timo Glock lost his front left wheel out on track. The team’s subsequent investigation revealed all four wheels on the German’s car were loose due to an ‘under-torqued’ wheel gun.

Those problems didn’t prevent Glock from being the fastest of the new teams’ drivers… but still five seconds off the pace.

Down in the HRT garage, mechanics have been working frantically to get Karun Chandhok’s car ready. But problems with the hydraulic systems meant the Indian driver was unable to take to the track and will now have to wait for the Australian GP to get his chance.

His teammate Bruno Senna set the 22nd fastest lap, almost 10 seconds off Alonso’s pace.