Practice 3 Report - Kubica fastest in wet FP3 as teams face set-up dilemma

Robert Kubica set the fastest time in a wet third free practice session at Interlagos ahead of qualifying for the penultimate round of the F1 world championship.

The Pole (1:19.191) set his time near the end of the session with Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel (1:19.500) second fastest. Lewis Hamilton's McLaren-Mercedes was in close touch (1:19.536) ahead of the closely matched Ferraris of home hero Felipe Massa (1:19.735) and Fernando Alonso (1:19.791).

Both Ferrari drivers did just nine laps in the session, suggesting that perhaps they have one eye on engine mileage. Vitaly Petrov (1:19.887) was sixth fastest with the second Renault, ahead of Sebastian Buemi (1:20.009) and Nico Rosberg (1:20.056). Jenson Button lapped in 1:20.164 with the second McLaren as Rubens Barrichello's Williams-Cosworth (1:20.320) rounded out the top 10.

Mark Webber (1:20.337) completed just six laps and was 11th quickest, last year's Interlagos winner probably seeing little point in risking the car in slippery conditions ahead of a crucial qualifying session. All indications are that qualifying, scheduled for 2pm Brazilian time, will be run on a wet track but the forecasts also suggest a dry race, meaning teams will face a set-up dilemma.

As one team strategist put it, "do you want to have a race set-up that is maybe half a second a lap better, but be alongside the Kobayashis and Petrovs into Turn 1..."