Test report – Kimi Keeps Flying in Bahrain
World champion Kimi Raikkonen finished the Bahrain test on top of the times after going even quicker than yesterday.
The Ferrari driver managed a best time of 1:30.455, over a tenth quicker than yesterday’s time, already over two seconds faster than last year’s pole position lap.
Raikkonen was joined by teammate Felipe Massa, who replaced test driver Luca Badoer in the second F2008. Massa covered 72 laps despite suffering some problems that made him lose time during the session.
The Toyota team completed their programme with Jarno Trulli and Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel of the TF108. Both men worked on set-up and development items, and Trulli was pleased after enjoying a trouble-free day.
Both teams will stay in Bahrain, where another three-day session kicks off on Saturday.
From an interview by Turun Sanomat, Kimi is rather enthusiastic about the F2008: "It’s fantastic to drive car like
this. It’s fast with botj qualifying and race setups. It doesn’t wear tyres so
much because the power output is very stable," says Kimi, praising his car.
"I know that we were extremely quick but I could have still easily set even faster times because the car worked so well."
"We know where we are fast and we can only improve from here," the champion smiled.
Räikkönen has driven 1180 kilometers in the 3 days test without any problems:
"The car has worked very well all the time. I can’t be anything else but very happy. We are fast and we are in very good rhythm".
Other quotes can be read here.
Today’s times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:30.455 74
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:31.293 72
3. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:32.145 97
4. Kobayashi Toyota (B) 1:32.265 53
So, at the tests in Bahrain, the Red team have been focusing on simulating a Grand Prix weekend – the Scuderia performed short runs in the morning, followed by a qualifying session test. The afternoon consisted of long runs and pit stops. Yesterday, the Ferrari crew were relaxed enough to cheekily pretend they had won a race, holding a ‘winner’ banner in jubilous behaviour on the pitwall as Kimi set the fastest time of the day.
During the short stints, Kimi’s lap times were 1:31.011, 1:31.359, and 1:31.468, continuing a later time of 1:31.564 in another stint. One can effectively say he conquered the best lap of Massa four times.
Felipe Massa concentrated on various set-up work as Badoer did earlier this week, but Massa had a hydraulic problem around 15:00 and his car had to be brought back to the pits on a truck as the engine was switched off. After 90 minutes he went out on track again, so the problem wasn’t too big and seemed easy to repair.
Today was another experimental day for world champion Raikkonen. He worked on mechanical set ups and experimented with the electronics. For the third consecutive day he obtained the best time, each time in different conditions. He set his best time in the afternoon, when the track temperature fell below 20°C after sunset compared to 41°C in the morning.
Source: AFCA
FUCK ISRAEL 