Alonso fastest in final practice
13 Mar 2010
Fernando Alonso is the fastest man in Bahrain ahead of qualifying
A third different car headed the third practice session ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso lapped the extended Bahrain circuit in 1′54.099 to head the times by almost three-tenths of a second.
Nico Rosberg, fastest in yesterday’s session, was second for Mercedes.
Felipe Massa was fastest for much of the session but his final effort was only good enough for sixth.
World champion Jenson Button was seventh for McLaren but team mate Lewis Hamilton could only manage 12th after ending his session early to have a brake change.
At the back of the grid Karun Chandhok failed to set a time and faced being unable to start qualifying.
Another of the new teams was in trouble – Timo Glock’s Virgin shed a wheel during the session and team mate Lucas di Grassi failed to set a time.
| Position | Car number | Driver | Car | Best lap | Laps | |
| 1 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1′54.099 | 14 | |
| 2 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1′54.368 | 0.269 | 13 |
| 3 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1′54.500 | 0.401 | 15 |
| 4 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1′54.533 | 0.434 | 13 |
| 5 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1′54.646 | 0.547 | 16 |
| 6 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1′54.739 | 0.64 | 14 |
| 7 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1′55.000 | 0.901 | 14 |
| 8 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1′55.331 | 1.232 | 15 |
| 9 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1′55.432 | 1.333 | 11 |
| 10 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1′55.461 | 1.362 | 13 |
| 11 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1′55.521 | 1.422 | 13 |
| 12 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1′55.860 | 1.761 | 8 |
| 13 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1′56.063 | 1.964 | 14 |
| 14 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1′56.259 | 2.160 | 15 |
| 15 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1′56.295 | 2.196 | 17 |
| 16 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1′56.504 | 2.405 | 16 |
| 17 | 23 | Kamui Kobyashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1′56.530 | 2.431 | 14 |
| 18 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1′56.811 | 2.712 | 16 |
| 19 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1′59.173 | 5.074 | 10 |
| 20 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1′59.789 | 5.69 | 15 |
| 21 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 2′01.259 | 7.16 | 5 |
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 2′04.001 | 9.902 | 11 |
| 23 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 2 | ||
| 24 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth |
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