After three disastrous days of attempting to test but instead amassing a grand total of 24 laps due to a lack of parts, the late arrival of parts and malfunctioning parts, it appeared as if it would be the same story for newcomers Virgin when their space in the pits was blocked by privacy screens while their rivals hit the track. The situation did not change throughout the morning, which passed without the fledgling F1 team completing a single timed lap while Lucas di Grassi sat cooling his heals in the pits.
Di Grassi finally ventured out around midday and started putting the mileage on Virgin's VR01. And add mileage he did! The rookie completed 63 laps, almost quadrupling Virgin's tally.
The good news for Virgin, though, didn't end there.
While on previous days the team had been stone last and anything from ten to 17 seconds off the pace, on Saturday they weren't in last place and di Grassi was only 2.960s off the pace set by Hamilton.
Hamilton topped the timesheets after a late charge in the final twenty minutes saw him move from ninth to first. The Brit added to the glory of the moment by setting the best time of the week, a 1:19.583. That is 0.336s up on the previous best, which was set by Jaime Alguesuari on Friday.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil finished in second place, with the team reporting that "Adrian seems pretty happy. Balance consistent and time looks okay."
Third place went to Rubens Barrichello, who finished ahead of Robert Kubica and Michael Schumacher. Schumacher's day, though, wasn't without problems.
The seven-time World Champion completed only 11 laps in the morning session as he waited for the track, which was rather wet in the opening hour or so, to dry out. After lunch he ventured out but it wasn't long before he brought to the session to a halt as his MGP W01 came to stop out on track.
Schumacher's red flag was one of three for the day, the other two belonging to Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa, who finished sixth and seventh respectively.
Pedro de la Rosa, di Grassi and Alguersuari completed the timesheets.
Unofficial Times
1. L. Hamilton McLaren MP4-25 1:19.583 113 laps
2. A. Sutil Force India VJM-03 1:20.180 +0.597 84 laps
3. R. Barrichello Williams FW32 1:20.341 +0.758 90 laps
4. R. Kubica Renault R30 1:20.358 +0.775 85 laps
5. M. Schumacher Mercedes GP W01 1:20.613 +1.030 84 laps
6. S. Vettel Red Bull Racing RB6 1:21.203 +1.620 90 laps
7. F. Massa Ferrari F10 1:21.485 +1.902 160 laps
8. P. de la Rosa Sauber C29 1:22.134 +2.551 105 laps
9. L. Di Grassi Virgin Racing VR-01 1:22.912 +3.329 63 laps
10. J. Alguersuari Toro Rosso STR5 1:24.072 +4.489 98 laps
Source: Planet-F1
