It was the turn of BMW Sauber s Nick Heidfeld to top the timesheets at the Sepang Circuit. The German set a time two-tenths faster than the Ferrari pairing of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, who dominated up until the closing minutes of the session. The McLaren team finished the session with Hamilton eleventh and Kovalainen a distant sixteenth, as they tested their race fuel setup.
Jarno Trulli put in a blistering performance to finish fourth, with the Red Bulls of Webber and Coulthard, having had their RB4 cleared to run by the FIA, in fifth and sixth. Timo Glock finished tenth, underlining Trulli s ability as a one-lap specialist.
Behind Coulthard, Nelson Piquet finished seventh, unusually the fastest of the Renault drivers, with Alonso languishing back in twelfth although just three tenths of a second behind.
Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel completed the top ten, back in eighth and ninth places respectively, in a session where the top eleven were separated by less than one second.
Unofficial Times for Practice Session 3:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:35.019 18 2. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:35.262 + 0.243 17 3. Massa Ferrari 1:35.388 + 0.369 17 4. Trulli Toyota 1:35.389 + 0.370 20 5. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:35.437 + 0.418 16 6. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:35.653 + 0.634 17 7. Piquet Renault 1:35.768 + 0.749 15 8. Button Honda 1:35.781 + 0.762 19 9. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:35.827 + 0.808 16 10. Glock Toyota 1:35.911 + 0.892 21 11. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.927 + 0.908 13 12. Alonso Renault 1:36.068 + 1.049 14 13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:36.183 + 1.164 14 14. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:36.229 + 1.210 21 15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:36.490 + 1.471 7 16. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.529 + 1.510 16 17. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:36.618 + 1.599 19 18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.668 + 1.649 15 19. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:36.908 + 1.889 14 20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:36.939 + 1.920 21 21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:37.140 + 2.121 12 22. Barrichello Honda 1:37.703 + 2.684 6
