Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace on the second day of pre-German Grand Prix testing at the Hockenheim circuit.
The McLaren driver, quickest on Tuesday and running without the
shark fin engine cover his team introduced yesterday, posted a best
time of 1:14.872, over six tenths of a second faster than on the
opening day.
Hamilton, who briefly tested a new front wing in the morning,
finished nearly four tenths ahead of second-placed Nico Rosberg, the
busiest man on track with his Williams, the German covering 117 laps.
Kimi Raikkonen was again on track for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. The
reigning world champion continued with work on finding the best set-up
for the F2008, as well as development of various aerodynamic and
mechanical solutions. Raikkonen was third quickest for Ferrari, and the Finn was left upbeat about his chances for the race next week.
"I am reasonably satisfied with the way things went during these two
days of testing," said Raikkonen. "We mainly tried to find settings for
the car which will allow us to be in good shape for the Grand Prix.
"I think we will also be competitive on this track, as indeed we
have been for the year so far. The speed isn’t lacking, but sometimes,
we haven’t managed to put together all the elements and have not
succeeded in exploiting all the potential at our disposal."
David Coulthard was fourth fastest, the Red Bull driver in action
during the morning session, with teammate Mark Webber taking over in
the afternoon.
Adrian Sutil completed a good day for the Force India team by
setting the fifth quickest time, although the German caused the first
of three red flags during the session when he stopped at 10:30.
The other two red flags were caused by Honda’s Rubens Barrichello
stopping at 17:00 and Fernando Alonso following suit with his Renault
45 minutes later.
The session was extended by 10 minutes to allow drivers to practice starts in preparation for the German Grand Prix next week.
A brief shower in the morning meant drivers stayed in the garage for
around 15 minutes, but conditions improved from that moment and it
stayed sunny all afternoon.
The other remarkable incident of the day took place when a
photographer without an official tabbard, crossed the circuit to take
pictures from an unauthorised spot.
As a consequence of this incident, all the photographers present
were asked to return their tabbards and stop taking pictures while they
were given a proper briefing by the circuit’s authorities.
All photographers with an official FIA pass were then given new
tabbards and continued with their work. The photographer in question is
believed to have had his credentials put under review subject to future
accreditation.
Today’s times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:14.872 101
2. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:15.257 117
3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:15.296 90
4. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:15.767 42
5. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:15.945 97
6. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:15.955 62
7. Glock Toyota (B) 1:15.995 114
8. Alonso Renault (B) 1:16.141 106
9. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:16.144 90
10. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:16.217 70
11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:16.235 115
12. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:16.550 36
Kind of a weird coincidence that there was another photographer related ‘incident’ today! So tomorrow, it will be Felipe Massa on track at Hockenheim, while Kimi
Raikkonen will be in Brussels, taking part in the European Youth
Conference on Road Safety, which takes place at the headquarters of the
European Commission at the Berlaymont Building. Hope to get some pictures of that!
FUCK ISRAEL 