A rather unusual looking timesheets for the final practice session for the European GP ended with Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg leading the way.
Report: Cloudy skies and a track temperature of 29'C greeted the drivers as first Giancarlo Fisichella went out for his installation lap followed by a train of cars.
After the first ten minutes everyone barring the two Ferraris, Hondas and Lewis Hamilton had completed an installation lap although no one had yet set a time.
Adrian Sutil was the first to do so, clocking a 1:42.843, while Fisichella slotted in behind him. Shortly after Felipe Massa hit the track, easily taking almost two seconds off the lead time.
Nico Rosberg went P2 and Nick Heidfeld P5 behind the two Force India drivers as more drivers went out to set their opening lap times. Rosberg improved to first place with Kimi Raikkonen slotting in behind him and Timo Glock taking fifth place.
As the lap times tumbled Seb Vettel went P1 with Kazuki Nakajima coming in behind him. The duo, though, were dropped by Robert Kubica, the Pole clocking a 1:40.367 before coming close to crashing into a wall the following lap.
Vettel returned to the top of the timesheets with team-mate Seb Bourdais taking third place while David Coulthard improved to fifth.
Halfway through the session Heikki Kovalainen finally set his first timed lap of the morning, however, he went P16, a massive 13 seconds off the pace. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was one of two drivers who had yet to set a time. The other was Jarno Trulli, who could nothing but sit at the back of his garage while his mechanics worked on his Toyota.
Kovalainen improved to eight place while Rosberg went P3 behind Vettel and Kubica. Coulthard moved up to fifth place.
Hamilton went well off track as he put in his first timed lap, going five seconds off the pace. As the McLaren driver continued lapping, Bourdais lowered the benchmark to a 1:39.593. Hamilton moved up to third place but dropped one with Vettel's climb to the P1 slot, just 0.009s ahead of Bourdais.
Massa slotted into third place behind the Toro Rossos while Raikkonen also moved up the order taking fifth place. The Finn dropped one place when Jenson Button put his Honda into fourth place. An impressive lap from the Brit, who was held up at the end by a Force India heading into the pits.
The final ten minutes saw a flurry of activity as the drivers went out for their final runs prior to qualifying.
Nelson Piquet Jr rubbed his right front tyre against the wall between Turn 4 and 5 only to go fastest with a 1:39.452. The Brazilian's reign was short-lived as Hamilton took over at the top, quickly losing out to Nakajima, Bourdais and then Kubica who became the first driver to break into the 1:38s.
Aside form tumbling times, incidents were also predominate in the final few minutes. Hamilton spun it at Turn 4 while trying to return to the top. Alonso joined the list using the run-off as he outbraked himself. Raikkonen almost collected the wall along the start/finish straight.
The session ended with Kubica, Rosberg and Bourdais at the top of the timesheets.
Times
01 R. Kubica BMW 1:38.754 15 laps
02 N. Rosberg Williams 1:38.877 18 laps
03 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.009 16 laps
04 K. Nakajima Williams 1:39.270 17 laps
05 F. Massa Ferrari 1:39.276 18 laps
06 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.300 16 laps
07 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:39.314 13 laps
08 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:39.335 18 laps
09 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:39.421 16 laps
10 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:39.452 20 laps
11 M. Webber Red Bull 1:39.597 17 laps
12 J. Button Honda 1:39.628 10 laps
13 F. Alonso Renault 1:39.652 17 laps
14 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:39.802 14 laps
15 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:39.810 20 laps
16 T. Glock Toyota 1:39.919 22 laps
17 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:40.019 21 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:40.059 21 laps
19 R. Barrichello Honda 1:40.512 20 laps
20 J. Trulli Toyota no time 2 laps
