Belgian GP 2008

SEPTEMBER 6, 2008

Practice 3 Report - Nick is quick

Nick Heidfeld, Belgian GP 2008
© The Cahier Archive

The third practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa did little to reveal who is competitive for the weekend, with Nick Heidfeld fastest in his BMW after a wet/dry session. There were nine drivers within a second of the fastest time, an impressive statistic on a track as long as Spa. More impressive still was the fact that 14 drivers were within 1.4secs. Heikki Kovalainen was second quickest in his McLaren ahead of Fernando Alonso's Renault and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. Felipe Massa was fifth quickest but only a fraction faster than Sebastian Vettel in his Toro Rosso-Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and the Williams-Toyota of Nico Rosberg. The top 10 was completed by the Renault-powered cars of Nelson Piquet and Mark Webber.

Jarno Trulli was the fastest of the factory Toyotas in 11th, four places ahead of Timo Glock, while David Coulthard was 12th, with Robert Kubica a rather disappointing 13th. Sebastien Bourdais was 14th in his Toro Rosso.

Kazuki Nakajima, who has never raced at Spa, was 16th ahead of the two Force Indias of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil.

The two Hondas were at the back, with Jenson Button's car stopping on its first lap out of the pits.