| Free Practise 3 – Rosberg Fastest
Williams driver Nico Rosberg continued his team’s very promisingBahrain Grand Prix weekend by going fastest in the final free practice
session at Sakhir.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was second, having been fastest until teams
switched to soft tyre runs and qualifying simulations in the closing
minutes.
As has been their habit in final practice so far in 2008, Ferrari
and McLaren appeared to focus on heavier fuel loads in preparation for
Q3.
Massa was the only member of the usual top four near the front, as
teammate Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in ninth, with McLaren’s
Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton in 10th and 18th respectively.
Ferrari sat out the first 37 minutes of the session – preferring to
let their rivals clean away the dirt built up by the support races.
When Massa did emerge, he immediately showed his potential by
leaping straight to the top of the timing screens with a 1:33.219 lap,
beating early pace-setter Rosberg by 0.202 seconds.
Teammate Raikkonen made errors on both his first two flying laps,
including a trip across the Turn 13 run-off area on his second lap.
When he finally produced a clean lap at the third attempt, he was half
a second slower than Massa.
After Hamilton damaged his McLaren’s tub in his heavy practice
accident on Friday afternoon, the team built up their spare chassis to
use for the rest of the weekend.
Apart from a period when Hamilton held second place behind Rosberg,
McLaren did not feature amongst the front-runners in the session.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:32.521 17
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:32.726 + 0.205 10
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:32.742 + 0.221 16
4. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:32.901 + 0.380 18
5. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:32.918 + 0.397 14
6. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:33.020 + 0.499 16
7. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:33.024 + 0.503 18
8. Piquet Renault (B) 1:33.074 + 0.553 16
9. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:33.237 + 0.716 10
10. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:33.367 + 0.846 15
11. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:33.372 + 0.851 17
12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:33.392 + 0.871 20
13. Alonso Renault (B) 1:33.445 + 0.924 13
14. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:33.551 + 1.030 18
15. Glock Toyota (B) 1:33.595 + 1.074 20
16. Button Honda (B) 1:33.600 + 1.079 17
17. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:33.651 + 1.130 14
18. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:33.659 + 1.138 14
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:33.857 + 1.336 18
20. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:34.074 + 1.553 16
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:34.591 + 2.070 18
22. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:34.952 + 2.431 16
Well that’s an interesting final session, what a jumble! Looks like Hamilton hasn’t had a great day after his crash and I wonder whether this will affect him for qualifying? Kimi’s a bit off Massa’s pace, but then again so is everyone else except Rosberg! Let’s look forward to qualifying and Keep Flying Kimi! (unless he is struggling of course hehe)
One Reason Why We Love Kimi…
From Eurosport.com
Reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen on Friday refused to join in the widespread condemnation of FIA President Max Mosley.
The Ferrari driver was a rare sympathetic voice in the Sahkir paddock, as Mosley’s support in the Formula One and motoring worlds
erodes in the wake of the highly publicised sex scandal involving
prostitutes and allegedly Nazi themes.
But Raikkonen is quoted as saying by the Mirror: "It’s his personal life and he can do whatever he wants and it’s not really my business or anyone else’s to put their noses in."
Way to go Kimi! Mosely is saying he’s done nothing ‘wrong’, and that it was ‘harmless and completely legal’. You can read the rest of Mosely’s comments here. Really, as long as it doesn’t harm his job then it shouldn’t be a problem. But as other figures in the motoring industry have said, it’s about having integrity and utmost respect as a president of a governing body, which is also true. But I guess Mosely has lost most of the fans’ respect anyway with the way of his ruling on the sport, however I do respect how much he has done in improving safety in the sport. His life is none of our business indeed, but I’d like to see him go anyway.
| Free Practise 2 – Ferrari Continue Domination as Hamilton Crashes
Ferrari continued to dominate Bahrain Grand Prix practice in the
second session, with Felipe Massa again leading teammate Kimi Raikkonen
in a one-two.
The Brazilian ended the afternoon almost one second quicker than Raikkonen, having lapped in 1:31.420 in the final seconds.
McLaren finished third and fourth, but Lewis Hamilton ended the afternoon in the barriers.
The Briton lost control of his car on the exit of Turn 7 and spun
across the track, hitting the opposite barriers side-on and causing
heavy damage to the right-hand side of the car. Hamilton was unharmed
in the incident.
Raikkonen and Hamilton swapped the top spot between them in the
early stages, before Massa took control with a 1:32.722 lap, 0.127
seconds quicker than Hamilton’s previous best.
Bar a few minutes when Raikkonen edged ahead with his final run,
Massa remained on top for the rest of the afternoon. He improved his
time to 1:32.393 on soft tyres, which Raikkonen beat by 0.066 seconds
with three minutes remaining.
But Massa responded in emphatic style, going fastest by 0.907 seconds with his last lap of the day.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:31.420 30
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:32.327 + 0.907 30
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:32.752 + 1.332 30
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:32.847 + 1.427 26
5. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:32.915 + 1.495 29
6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:33.022 + 1.602 34
7. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:33.048 + 1.628 27
8. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:33.098 + 1.678 33
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:33.197 + 1.777 37
10. Piquet Renault (B) 1:33.247 + 1.827 37
11. Button Honda (B) 1:33.710 + 2.290 33
12. Alonso Renault (B) 1:33.755 + 2.335 26
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:33.782 + 2.362 34
14. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:33.822 + 2.402 38
15. Glock Toyota (B) 1:33.856 + 2.436 30
16. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:33.966 + 2.546 35
17. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:34.023 + 2.603 36
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:34.388 + 2.968 35
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:34.405 + 2.985 34
20. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:34.787 + 3.367 30
21. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:35.288 + 3.868 24
22. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:35.712 + 4.292 25
Oh dear, it’s not going very well for McLaren and Hamilton with that crash. And what’s with Felipe being nearly a second faster than the whole field, including Kimi?! He’s looking very comfortable but I assume he was slightely lighter on fuel. And if Kimi says he is quite happy and pleased with today’s progress, then there’s nothing to worry about! However, Kimi apparantly had a 2400 Euro fine for speeding in the pitlane – whoops!
|Friday Quotes – Ferrari
Felipe Massa – 1st: "I am pleased with this first
day of free practice. Right from the start this morning, I found some
good settings for the car and then, in the afternoon, the track
conditions improved considerably.
"I think we are working in the right direction in terms of setting
up the car and so I feel confident about the rest of the weekend. I
like this track and think we will be very competitive. The wind is
expected to be stronger tomorrow and on Sunday and that would make
driving more difficult, but on the plus side, there will be more grip."
Kimi Raikkonen – 2nd: "All in all, I am happy with
the way things went this morning and even more so with the afternoon.
We tried various different set-ups, starting off with the settings we
defined when testing here in February.
"We picked up a lot of data to work with for qualifying and the
race. The car is going well and I think we will be competitive even if
it is always difficult to say where we are compared to the others. The
performance of both types of tyre is reasonably similar."
Luca Baldisserri: "Track conditions this morning
were rather difficult, because of all the sand blown onto the track by
the strong winds that we had here over the past few days. In the
afternoon, as the cars did more and more laps, the situation improved.
"We got through all our programme, working on finding the best
set-up and on the comparison of the two types of tyre available to us.
I reckon we can be satisfied with what we achieved in both these areas.
Being able to refer to our February tests was definitely useful, but we
have to bear in mind that the weather is different."
It’s great that Kimi and Felipe are feeling positive so far at Bahrain and the car is looking strong and really fast. Don’t forget to see all the coolest pics from Bahrain and catch some videos from both practise sessions, yes including Hamiton’s crash, over here.
In the press conference today, Stefano Domenicali says that Kimi and the team understand each other very well since a year from joining:
Q. Stefano, looking at Kimi a year ago and a year later. Tell us about the differences in Kimi.
SD: I think that Kimi, of course, after a year’s experience
understands how to relate better with the team. That’s a normal process
which we were expecting last year. That’s the relationship on both
sides – from Kimi to the team and from the team to Kimi. I think that
for sure now this package is very good. Kimi fits very well in the
team. He likes the way we are working. Everyone is very motivated
because we always said that the family constant of our team is always
there. I think he has understood that.
Q. What about Felipe. He has had a very tough start to the
championship. A bit like last year when he came here and it all changed.
SD: Of course Felipe is the first who is not happy about his
start. But once again as we always said we work as a team. We had a
problem in the first race, it was something connected to reliability
which gave us big problems. In the second race the car was there. We
need to look forward. For sure, he has shown that he is very strong. He
is very motivated and is willing to come here and to show that for sure
the zero scoring is not an achievement that will continue.
And then Stefano was also asked about the possibility of Kimi trying a MotoGP bike despite Kimi only ever saying "we’ll see" on the subject:
Q. (Andrea Cremonesi ā La Gazzetta dello Sport) Stefano, we saw
Michael riding a KTM at Misano last weekend and yesterday he was at
Mugello with MotoGP? What do you think about his situation on two
wheels; do you think that in the end he will be starting a new
adventure there? And the second question is about Kimi, because Kimi
yesterday said he would like to test a MotoGP. Is he allowed to do
that? Has he your permission? Are you thinking about it?
SD: With regards to Michael, I think it was two years ago
that Michael came to Mugello for the first time to see MotoGP and he
realised that the world on two wheels is also a fascinating world. He
has racing, speed and new challenges in his DNA but we have to respect
that and as far as we know, for sure he has a challenging view of his
life but not with any kind of official or a secondary objective. With
regards to Kimi, I would say that for sure he’s using his motocross
bike as we know, because he likes it, but I would say that he’s more
concentrating on four wheels now up to November and then we will see.
| Free Practise 1 – Ferrari Fastest at Sahkir
Felipe Massa led teammate Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari one-two in the first free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Williams’ Nico Rosberg took third with a late qualifying-style run, ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen.
The leading teams stayed in the pits for the first 35 minutes to
allow others to clean the dusty track. Massa was the first major
contender to set a time, and his 1:33.047 immediately outpaced early
benchmark Jarno Trulli (Toyota) by half a second.
The Brazilian was swiftly beaten by Hamilton’s 1:32.705, but both
Ferraris stayed out and returned to the top later in their long runs.
Massa regained first position with a 1:32.400, and although he was
briefly usurped by teammate Raikkonen’s 1:32.356, the Brazilian then
produced a 1:32.233 to reclaim the top spot.
Raikkonen had to curtail his first run after sliding off the road at
the final corner. The world champion took a detour across the very
dusty run-off and had to pit to check for damage and for the
accumulated dust to be cleaned out.
Unusually, the leading teams did not improve on their times on their
subsequent outings, with Massa and Raikkonen staying first and second
throughout the final 40 minutes.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:32.233 20
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:32.350 + 0.117 15
3. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:32.415 + 0.182 23
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:32.705 + 0.472 21
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:32.868 + 0.635 20
6. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:33.121 + 0.888 24
7. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:33.333 + 1.100 16
8. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:33.539 + 1.306 27
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:33.788 + 1.555 20
10. Alonso Renault (B) 1:33.815 + 1.582 19
11. Glock Toyota (B) 1:33.929 + 1.696 28
12. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:33.950 + 1.717 20
13. Piquet Renault (B) 1:33.981 + 1.748 24
14. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:34.106 + 1.873 17
15. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:34.235 + 2.002 27
16. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:34.321 + 2.088 32
17. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:34.892 + 2.659 20
18. Button Honda (B) 1:34.915 + 2.682 16
19. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:35.174 + 2.941 12
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:35.429 + 3.196 22
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:36.145 + 3.912 6
22. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:36.536 + 4.303 6
Judging from the times, it seems Kimi has improved his pace against Massa at Bahrain compared to last year, where he generally struggling with attaining grip with his tyres. And by briefly outpacing Felipe, Kimi seems on the right track (hopefully, haha!) And considering McLaren’s pace, it looks like they’ll be on their back foot again. Being nearly half a second off Ferrari’s pace isn’t a good sign, but this is just the first practise session afterall.
Keep tuned for session two either from Formula1.com’s live timing, or this live stream link. And catch some videos from practise session 1 over here!
FUCK ISRAEL 