Sutil ahead in a disrupted session

The last free practice session for the European Grand Prix was greatly disrupted by the engine problem of Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso). Best time before the red flag following Vettel's stop in the middle of the track at the half-hour mark, Adrian Sutil (Force India) managed to maintain his advantage in the last five minutes despite a final assault from Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Robert Kubica (BMW) and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren).

The German, however, took the checkered flag by regaining his possession with a time of 1:39.143 and thereby signing the best performance of the team led by Vijay Mallya in a practice session. The major developments announced for the European GP therefore seem to be bearing fruit since his teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), also achieved an encouraging performance by setting the sixth fastest time.

But the highlight of this session was the engine problem suffered by Sebastian Vettel. At full acceleration, the German saw his effort cut short and his engine then let out a long trail of oil over several tens of meters. The commissioners then temporarily suspended the session. For several minutes, the circuit staff spread an ultra-absorbent white powder on the track to erase all traces of the incident.

Before this setback, Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) was at ease on the Valencian track, setting a time of 1:39.950 after around twenty minutes. Behind, Jenson Button (Brawn GP) got closest to his compatriot without however managing to dislodge him. It was ultimately Adrian Sutil who took command just before Vettel experienced his problem. Behind, in addition to Kazuki Nakajima, Robert Kubica managed to raise his F1.09 in third position just ahead of car of Heikki Kovalainen who must perform this weekend if he wishes to keep his seat next season.

Romain Grosjean (Renault) achieved a promising 10th time while Luca Badoer (Ferrari) continues to fight at the back of the grid, more than three seconds behind the best.