Grand Prix of Spain, Practise Sessions

BMW’s Nick Heidfeld was fastest in the final practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The German leapt from 19th position to first when he switched to the softer tyres for his final run.

David Coulthard took second for Red Bull, ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso.

Ferrari and McLaren appeared to continue their recent strategy of
running heavier fuel loads in this practice session. Felipe Massa and
Kimi Raikkonen were only ninth and 13th in the Ferraris, while McLaren
teammates Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen ended the morning 11th
and 15th respectively.

A frenetic opening half-hour saw six drivers swapping first position, and as many as 16 cars covered by just one second.

Raikkonen was the first of the major contenders to complete a flying
lap, and immediately went fastest on a 1:22.804, but within two minutes
Kovalainen and BMW’s Robert Kubica had been usurped the world champion.

Alonso was next to go fastest overall, to the delight of the home
fans, and although his 1:22.634 was swiftly beaten by Rubens
Barrichello (Honda), the Spaniard improved to a 1:22.271 on his next
run to lead the way again.

Behind Massa, Timo Glock took the final top ten spot in the second Toyota.

Mark Webber failed to set a time in the second Red Bull. A suspected
throttle problem caused the Australian’s car to come to a halt in the
pit exit before he could complete a flying lap.

As had been the case in Friday practice, the braking area for the
tight Turn 10 was the scene of the session’s main incidents, with both
Barrichello and Force India’s Adrian Sutil spinning down the asphalt
run-off there before rejoining without drama.

Pos  Driver       Team                      Time               Laps
 1.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           (B)  1:21.269           19
 2.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:21.465  + 0.196  16
 3.  Alonso       Renault              (B)  1:21.599  + 0.330  16
 4.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           (B)  1:21.717  + 0.448  23
 5.  Trulli       Toyota               (B)  1:21.771  + 0.502  21
 6.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:21.942  + 0.673  19
 7.  Piquet       Renault              (B)  1:21.992  + 0.723  18
 8.  Button       Honda                (B)  1:22.060  + 0.791  17
 9.  Massa        Ferrari              (B)  1:22.075  + 0.806  16
10.  Glock        Toyota               (B)  1:22.081  + 0.812  23
11.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:22.094  + 0.825  15
12.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:22.174  + 0.905  19
13.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              (B)  1:22.176  + 0.907  18
14.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:22.189  + 0.920  16
15.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:22.220  + 0.951  16
16.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:22.292  + 1.023  20
17.  Barrichello  Honda                (B)  1:22.350  + 1.081  17
18.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:22.466  + 1.197  22
19.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:22.689  + 1.420  21
20.  Sato         Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:23.726  + 2.457  16
21.  Davidson     Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:23.921  + 2.652  15
22.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     (B)                     2

A pretty muddled up grid there, it seems a lot of the teams went through some significant changes as they prepare for qualifying. Whoever claims pole position here will be most likely to win, but the only factors that could change this is aggressive fuel strategies and the drivers making mistakes without traction control. Should be interesting, I hope! Don’t forget to check out the latest pics in the KRS Photo HQ. Keep Flying Kimi!

| Free Practise 2 – Kimi Stays on Top, Ahead of Renault 

Kimi Raikkonen remained on top in the second Friday practice session at Catalunya, with the two Renaults completing an unusual top three.

The title contenders concentrated on heavier fuel loads for much of the afternoon, and Raikkonen’s session-topping time was a full 1.3 seconds slower than he had managed this morning.

His Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa was fifth fastest, while the two McLarens were only 11th and 16th.

The teams’ differing strategies meant that the timing screens had an unusual look throughout, with Force India holding first and second positions for the first 40 minutes – Adrian Sutil leading the way initially before being beaten by teammate Giancarlo Fisichella.

David Coulthard (Red Bull) ended their moment of glory by lapping in 1:22.321, 0.062 seconds quicker than Fisichella’s benchmark, as the session neared its halfway point.

Ten minutes later, Williams took a one-two, with first Nico Rosberg, then Kazuki Nakajima going fastest of all.

Then with 27 minutes remaining, Fernando Alonso hit the front, to the delight of the Spanish fans in the grandstands.

His 1:22.034 lap was 0.138 seconds clear of Nakajima’s previous best, but was beaten within 12 minutes by his own teammate Nelson Piquet, who lapped 0.015 seconds faster. Although Alonso subsequently improved his time, he only closed the gap by 0.002 seconds.

Renault then held the top two places until the final four minutes, when Raikkonen moved ahead with a 1:21.935 lap, 0.084 seconds quicker than Piquet.

McLaren did not feature amongst the lead runners. Hamilton had a spin at Turn 10 on his first run, and ended the day in 11th. He then came to a halt in the pit entry on his final lap of the session.

His teammate Heikki Kovalainen managed just eight laps. A gearbox problem kept the Finn in the McLaren garage for most of the first hour, and when he did take to the track, he only completed a handful of laps before his car slowed and came to a halt on the way out of Turn 6.

Behind Raikkonen, Piquet and Alonso, Nakajima held on to fourth place for Williams, with Massa fifth and 0.2 seconds slower than Raikkonen.

Mark Webber and David Coulthard took sixth and eighth for Red Bull, split by Rosberg, while the two Force Indias were shuffled down the order as others improved, but secured the final top ten positions.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time               Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:21.935            38
 2.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:22.019  + 0.084   38
 3.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:22.032  + 0.097   26
 4.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:22.172  + 0.237   35
 5.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:22.229  + 0.294   32
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:22.238  + 0.303   36
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:22.266  + 0.331   33
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:22.289  + 0.354   30
 9.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.383  + 0.448   38
10.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:22.548  + 0.613   38
11.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:22.685  + 0.750   33
12.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:22.788  + 0.853   38
13.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:23.130  + 1.195   40
14.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:23.224  + 1.289   34
15.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:23.263  + 1.328   34
16.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:23.264  + 1.329    8
17.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:23.415  + 1.480   31
18.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.661  + 1.726   35
19.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.684  + 1.749   37
20.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:23.883  + 1.948   40
21.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:25.110  + 3.175   30
22.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:25.163  + 3.228   31

| Friday Quotes – Ferrari, Happy Kimi

Kimi Raikkonen – 1st: "I am pleased with this first day of testing. We did the work we needed to do and had no problems, this being probably the most positive thing.

"The balance of the car is good, even if there is always room to improve and its handling was also good on both types of tyre. As usual on Friday, it is hard to judge where we are up against our rivals and I think we can expect a very close fight. The new nose? We wouldn’t use it if it didn’t give us a little something extra!"

Felipe Massa – 5th: "This was a good day. From what we have seen, I think we will be competitive this weekend and we are working in the right direction. Track conditions will improve over the next couple of days. Today, it was a bit on the limit and it was easy to make mistakes.

"In fact, when I spun this morning, I flat spotted the left rear tyre and that’s why I didn’t do many laps in the first session, as it wasn’t worth using a new set of tyres. I could have posted a quicker time in the afternoon, but I had some traffic on my first flying lap on soft tyres. It’s my birthday today and I would love to give myself a nice present on Sunday."

Luca Baldisserri: "We had a good starting point thanks to the work carried out here last week, so we worked mainly on confirming the results from that test. We had no technical problems, which meant we got through all our programme. It is always difficult to make predictions based on what you can see on a Friday, but I think we can be reasonably optimistic about the rest of the weekend."

Wow, this is the first Friday of the season where Kimi is actually pleased and content with the progress, good for him! This can only mean good news for us – Kimi has the speed and is comfortable enough to get pole position tomorrow, unless McLaren, BMW or even Renault give some desperate surprises. It would be good for the championship and extremely satisfying if Kimi wins at Spain after his last victory here in 2005. Enjoy the following onboard video with Kimi around the circuit and also a few spins with Massa and Hamilton. Stayed tuned and watch this space!

| Videos

  http://www.viddler.com/simple/a1bde3f3/   http://www.viddler.com/simple/f29fa642/

| Free Practise 1 – Kimi Fastest with Ferrari 1-2

Kimi Raikkonen led Felipe Massa in a Ferrari one-two in the opening practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The two Ferraris were half a second clear of the rest of the field, with Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen taking third and fifth respectively for McLaren, split by BMW’s Robert Kubica.

With the majority of teams having tested extensively at the Barcelona track last week, the session got off to a predictably quiet start, with 26 minutes elapsing before Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima became the first man to attempt a flying lap.

The two McLarens came out soon afterwards, with Hamilton setting the early pace with a 1:21.192, six tenths of a second clear of teammate Kovalainen.

But they were swiftly usurped when Ferrari – who uniquely chose to not even bother with an installation lap at the start of the session – emerged with 45 minutes to go.

Raikkonen took first position with his second lap, and then improved to 1:20.649 by the end of his run.

His teammate Massa ultimately reached second place, just 0.050 seconds slower than Raikkonen, despite making a number of mistakes during his first outing.

The Bahrain winner had a spin at the chicane on his first flying lap, and followed Timo Glock (Toyota) into running very wide at Turn 9 on the next lap, before finally setting a representative time at the third attempt. He later had another spin on the exit of Turn 8.

None of the leading drivers improved their times in the second half of the session, with the only change coming when Kubica edging his BMW up to fourth, between the two McLarens.

Home favourite Fernando Alonso pleased his local fans by taking an encouraging sixth for Renault, 1.2 seconds off the pace, and just ahead of teammate Nelson Piquet.

David Coulthard (Red Bull), Nick Heidfeld (BMW) and Jenson Button (Honda) took the final top ten positions.

Having confirmed their participation in the weekend shortly before practice began, Super Aguri ended up at the bottom of the timesheets in 21st and 22nd, but Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson did complete 24 laps between them.

Massa’s excursions aside, the only other notable incident was Jarno Trulli’s spin at Turn 10 early in the session. The Toyota driver rejoined without drama and ending the morning in 14th.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time               Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:20.649            17
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:20.699  + 0.050    9
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:21.192  + 0.543   20
 4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:21.568  + 0.919   20
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:21.758  + 1.109   10
 6.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:21.933  + 1.284   18
 7.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:21.936  + 1.287   21
 8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:22.118  + 1.469   20
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:22.278  + 1.629   24
10.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:22.632  + 1.983   16
11.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:23.002  + 2.353   21
12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:23.003  + 2.354   25
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:23.015  + 2.366   14
14.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:23.141  + 2.492   15
15.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:23.153  + 2.504   24
16.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:23.156  + 2.507   22
17.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:23.196  + 2.547   20
18.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:23.353  + 2.704   14
19.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:23.952  + 3.303   15
20.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:24.082  + 3.433   15
21.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:24.278  + 3.629   14
22.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)  1:25.068  + 4.419   10

Seeing Kimi ahead of Massa here at Barcelona was a bit of a surprise to me, but look at the difference – not even a tenth of a second! That new nose feature Ferrari introduced may have given some extra speed/downforce even if they say it’s a small thing, as McLaren seem a little too far off pace but BMW are hanging on. Let’s see how today progresses! You can watch the practise sessions on ITV-F1.com’s live stream.