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Nakajima fifth in final Japanese Practice

Kazuki Nakajima
By Andrew Hooper October 11 2008
AT&T Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima would finish in fifth in the rain affected Saturday practice for the 2008 Japanese GP. Team-mate Nico Rosberg was down the order in fourteenth. Rain would not fall during the hour but the session was declared wet. With the wet conditions the results of the practice session would make the prospects for qualifying somewhat unpredictable. Kubica was fastest.
 
 Japanese GP Saturday Practice
 

With AT&T Williams drivers Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg finishing Friday's practice in seventh and thirteenth positions the team would be looking to improve on their performance in the lead up to qualifying. With the session been declared wet with the track was wet but rain had stopped. Saturday's final practice session would get underway with a flood of drivers coming out to complete their installation lap and look at the circuit. This would include both Nico and Kazuki. As usual both Ferrari's remained in their pits. With their race engines now fitted Button would return to the track while team-mate Barrichello was out for the first time. Button would set the first time of the session with a 1m:28.661. Barrichello had pitted while Both Force India cars and Glock returned to the track.

NakajimaGlock was now fastest with a time of 1m:28.146. This was ten seconds slower than Friday's times in the dry. Several other drivers had now left the pit lane including Kubica< Vettel, Kovalainen, and Heidfeld. Fisichella was third with a 1m:31.738. Bourdais joined team-mate Vettel out on the track. Button would pit. The first of the Ferrari's, Raikkonen, was out on the circuit. Kubica was now third with a 1m:29.630 as Glock pitted. Hamilton had also left the pits with forty five minutes of the session remaining. Kovalainen was now fastest, 1m:27.787, and Vettel second, 1m:28.038. Glock was back out on the circuit after pitting briefly.

Both Nico and Kazuki were still in their pits as more drivers left the pit lane. Heidfeld was fifth followed by Raikkonen, Bourdais, and Kubica. It was all changing rapidly as Bourdais moved into third, 1m:28.106, and Hamilton then went fastest with a 1m:27.410. Nico and Kazuki were now on the track as Vettel moved into second, 1m:27.525. Kovalainen would pit. Hamilton was on a quick lap improving his time with a 1m:26.453. With forty minutes left the order was Hamilton from Clock, Vettel, Kovalainen, Bourdais, Piquet, Raikkonen, Trulli, Kazuki, and Button. But just as quickly the order would change with Nico moving into third with a 1m:27.285. Webber was in eighth, 1m:28.193.

Kazuki was now in eleventh, 1m:28.485, but he would improve to take third from Nico with a time of 1m:27.229. But Nico would respond with a 1m:26.786 to move into second. Glock was then fastest with a 1m:26.259. Nico and Kazuki were now in third and fourth. Vettel was in fifth followed by Webber and Massa. But Massa would also improve to move into fifth, 1m:27.281. Hamilton would again move to the top of the times with a 1m:25.901. Raikkonen was down in thirteenth. Team-mate Massa would improve to be third with a 1m:26.503. Hamilton and Glock had both pitted. Alonso would move up to sixth, 1m:27.282, but Button would take this spot with a 1m:27.106. Nico would pit while Raikkonen had returned to the track.

Both Nico and Kazuki had improved their times with a 1m:26.541 and a 1m:26.845 respectively. Kazuki would pit. With thirty minutes remaining the order was Hamilton from Glock, Massa, Nico, Kazuki, Bourdais, Button, Alonso, Kubica, and Trulli in tenth. Trulli would improve to now be fifth with a time of 1m:26.630. Massa was now second, 1m:26.172, and Piquet fourth, 1m:26.510. This would see Nico and Kazuki drop to fifth and eighth. Sutil had yet to set a time. Trulli was sixth and Vettel seventh. Bourdais would again show pace moving into second with a 1m:26.039. Only a small number of drivers were on the track, including both Ferrari's and Renault's. Webber would improve to be ninth, 1m:26.813.

At the top it was changing rapidly with Piquet moving into third, 1m:26.094, and Vettel fifth, 1m:26.192. Glock was sixth and Nico seventh. The Williams driver was back out on the track. It was now Massa's turn to move to the top of the times with a 1m:25.709. Kovalainen would improve to move into seventh, 1m:26.518. Kazuki was also back out on the track. Massa and Raikkonen had both pitted. Kovalainen was now sixth, 1m:26.239. Nico and Kazuki were now eighth and twelfth. Twenty minutes remaining and Trulli would improve to be fifth, 1m:26.178. Barrichello moved into tenth and Glock showed his pace again by moving into second, 1m:25.857. Kazuki had improved to be in tenth with a 1m:26.541, to be one place behind Nico.

Coulthard was now sixth and Trulli seventh. Red Bull team-mate Webber would improve to be in fourth, 1m:25.974. Nico and Kazuki were now in eleventh and twelfth. Raikkonen was down in eighteenth. With under fifteen minutes remaining Nico would pit leaving just a handful of drivers on the track as the teams and drivers got ready for their practice qualifying runs. Kazuki would improve to move ahead of Nico with a 1m:26.293. Kazuki and Nico were now in eleventh and twelfth, having changed order. Raikkonen would improve slightly to now be in fifteenth. Kazuki would improve a lot to see himself in sixth with a time of 1m:26.073. Kazuki would pit leaving just Raikkonen and Fisichella on the track.

With just over ten minutes left Vettel would return to the track. Raikkonen was now thirteenth. Heidfeld was next out. He was joined by several other drivers as Sutil finally was able to return to the track. Raikkonen would pit from twelfth. Heidfeld would improve to be in eighth, 1m:26.120, as Vettel jumped up the order to be in third, 1m:25.880. Kubica would move up the order to be third with a 1m:25.852. These drivers were the first on their practice qualifying runs. Nico was back out and was joined by Kazuki. Both Ferrari's and McLaren's were still in their pits, joined by Webber. Everyone else was out for their final runs. Kubica would improve with a 1m:25.697 to move to the top of the times.

It was changing rapidly as drivers et their times. Piquet was now fastest with a 1m:25.580. Alonso was in fifth, 1m:25.799. With only a minute remaining Coulthard moved into second, 1m:25.661. Kubica was now third. Massa was out on the track as Heidfeld went fastest with a 1m:25.474 but team-mate Kubica went faster with a 1m:25.087. Glock was now second with a 1m:25.171. Neither Hamilton, Kovalainen, or Raikkonen had returned to the track as the session came to a close. Kazuki was able to improve moving up to fifth, 1m:25.563. Nico was down in fourteenth, 1m:26.213. With the end of the session the order was Kubica from Glock, Piquet, Heidfeld, Kazuki, Coulthard, Massa, Webber, Alonso, and Vettel in tenth. Hamilton was down in eleventh and Nico fourteenth.

With the wet conditions the results of the session makes it difficult to comment on the form of various drivers making the prospects for qualifying somewhat unpredictable.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:25.087 19
 2.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:25.171 25
 3.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:25.415 19
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:25.474 24
 5.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:25.563 23
 6.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:25.614 20
 7.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:25.709 15
 8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:25.785 20
 9.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:25.799 19
10.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:25.880 24
11.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:25.901 8
12.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:25.984 22
13.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:26.013 21
14.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:26.213 19
15.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:26.239 10
16.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:26.277 18
17.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:26.662 22
18.  Button        Honda                (B)  1:26.922 26
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:27.357 12
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:27.918 17
 

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