From Autosport.com
Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa kicked off Ferrari’s preparations for the 2008 season in style by dominating the first day of testing at Jerez.
Both men were driving Ferrari’s new F2008 car, unveiled last week in Maranello.
Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa was third quickest in the new McLaren MP4-23, while Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel managed the fourth fastest time, ahead of the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen.
Both de la Rosa and Kovalainen had already been in action at Jerez last week during a three-day test following the launch of the new McLaren.
Toro Rosso completed a strong session, with Sebastien Bourdais posting the sixth fastest time ahead of Nico Rosberg in the hybrid Williams FW29B.
Apart from the two Ferraris and the two McLarens, Toyota were the other team running with their 2008 car, with Jarno Trulli the man in charge of putting the TF108 through its paces.
The Italian, whose teammate Timo Glock drove last year’s car, completed a total of 84 laps, the most by any driver today, and finished as eighth quickest.
Nelsinho Piquet was the only Renault driver in action, with Red Bull’s David Coulthard also without a teammate on track.
Italian Tonio Liuzzi made his debut as an official test driver for Force India, finishing as 11th quickest.
James Rossiter wound up at the bottom of the times with the Super Aguri-Honda after managing just 10 laps.
The session began with on a wet track following early showers, and it finally dried out around 1:30pm.
There were a total of eight red flags during the session, caused by Massa, Vettel, Bourdais, Nakajima, Piquet (2) and Glock (2).
Only BMW, launching their new car in Germany, were absent from the test.
Today’s times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:19.846 59 *
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:20.123 42 *
3. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:20.548 54 *
4. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.732 40
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:20.936 48 *
6. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.997 47
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:21.143 47
8. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:21.314 84 *
9. Piquet Renault (B) 1:21.696 41
10. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:21.746 49
11. Liuzzi Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:23.035 44
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:23.134 42
13. Glock Toyota (B) 1:24.351 56
14. Rossiter Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:34.862 10
* 2008 car
So, it wasn’t exactly topping the sheets in style by Ferrari – Massa spun off which led to a gear box issue which meant his car had to be lifted away by truck. It’s unknown whether it was down to a pure electrical issue. Kimi however, had a good day! He completed the second most laps driven (59) compared to JarnoTrulli (84). Good to see the world champion back at work.
Kimi is doing quite well without traction control. Finnish sources say that although he ran wide a few times today, he was fast in both wet and dry conditions. McLaren are pushing hard and are making the most of the ECU which the McLaren group produced for all teams to use this year – the team have ran mileage that would cover around four grand prix distances. Don’t forget to watch the video of the test below, and put your volume up!
FUCK ISRAEL 