Mark Webber has finished fastest in the final practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix after running well in the wet conditions that meant any truly meaningful running ahead of qualifying was impossible.
Webber’s time of 1:27.891 saw him finished ahead of both Lotus drivers as many – including teammate Sebastian Vettel – opted to curtail their running in favor of saving a set of tires.
With the rain that marred yesterday’s practice sessions failing to dissipate on Saturday morning, it was another session of running on the intermediate and wet tires. Esteban Gutierrez was the first driver to venture out into the spray and post a time, whilst a number of other drivers opted to only go out for an installation lap in order to save their tires for the later sessions when rain was also forecast. However, the teams opted to remain in the pits until there was a break in the weather to allow for some meaningful running.
A slight break in the weather prompted the teams to get out on track, and Marussia’s Jules Bianchi soon overthrew Gutierrez at the top of the timesheets with Chilton slotting in to third place. Valtteri Bottas – keen on building on his points in Austin – enjoyed a couple of minutes at the top before Sebastian Vettel emerged from the pits and went quicker than the Williams driver before running wide due to the rain on his next lap. Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to dip below the 1:30s mark with a lap that saw him move up to P1, and conditions continued to improve with every lap that went by.
With just under ten minutes remaining, the crossover point came and allowed drivers to go out on the intermediate tire. Mark Webber took advantage of this to go to the top of the timesheets with Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg within a second of the Red Bull. However, some of the drivers opted to stay in the pits and wait for qualifying to get out on track to save tires. Romain Grosjean and Heikki Kovalainen proved Lotus’ pace in the wet to move up to P2 and P3, but ultimately, no one could beat Webber at the top.
Webber will be hoping to continue this form across the course of his last grand prix weekend before he retires from Formula One.
