Grand Prix of Europe, Practise Sessions 1,2 & 3

Robert Kubica waited until two and a half minutes from the end of
the final free practice session at Valencia to become the first man to
break into 1:38s bracket this weekend, and go fastest of all in the
hour.

As ever, the final few moments of the session were frantic, but for
much of practice it looked distinctly as if the Scuderia Toro Rosso
pair of Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais might sweep the top
spots.

Eventually, the Frenchman ended the session third, behind Nico
Rosberg, who produced an inspired lap to take the chequered flag second.

And as if to prove the Williams team’s pace this weekend, Kazuki Nakajima was fourth.

Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari, having been tumbled by the late carousel of times, which also dropped Vettel to sixth.

Lewis Hamilton, who completed the least amount of laps of the
runners without problems and was seventh after an error-strewn session
that saw him spin through 360 degrees at Turns 4 and 5.

Nick Heidfeld was eighth, ahead of David Coulthard, while Nelson
Piquet completed the top ten having been fastest four minutes before
the end of the session.

Jenson Button did well to recover to 12th, behind Mark Webber, after
an early hydraulic issue, while home hero Fernando Alonso could only
manage 13th after his late flyer was ruined by a lock-up.

Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen never really featured in 14th
and 15th. The Toyotas were disappointing too; Timo Glock was 16th,
while Jarno Trulli’s troubles continued as he completed just two laps
with what is believed to be a gearbox problem.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:38.754           15
 2.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:38.877 + 0.123   18
 3.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:39.009 + 0.255   16
 4.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:39.270 + 0.516   17
 5.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:39.276 + 0.522   18
 6.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:39.300 + 0.546   16
 7.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:39.314 + 0.560   13
 8.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:39.335 + 0.581   18
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:39.421 + 0.667   16
10.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:39.452 + 0.698   20
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:39.597 + 0.843   17
12.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:39.628 + 0.874   10
13.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:39.652 + 0.898   17
14.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:39.802 + 1.048   14
15.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:39.810 + 1.058   20
16.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:39.919 + 1.165   22
17.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:40.019 + 1.265   21
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:40.059 + 1.305   21
19.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:40.512 + 1.758   20
20.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  no time             2

The
Ferraris’ usually work on race related set ups in the final sessions and this time they worked mainly on the brakes and tyres, as this circuit is very hard on them in certain areas. As long as Kimi is happy and has no major problem then I think fighting for pole/front row will be possible today! It will definately be down between the Ferraris and McLaren, and perhaps a BMW and Renault may join them.

Bridgestone have said that Ferrari in particular have made good progress with their tyres especially in heating them up over one lap – that’s good news as Kimi’s main issue is qualifying and heating the tyres quickly!

| Free Practise 2 – Raikko Beats Alonso to P1!

Kimi Raikkonen beat home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso to the fastest time in the second free practice session at the new Valencia street track.

Until Raikkonen’s last gasp lap, Alonso looked set to end the day at the top of the timesheets, having leapt to the front of the field on the supersoft Bridgestones with four minutes remaining, only for the reigning champion to pip him by 0.020 seconds in the closing moments.

Jenson Button took a shock third for Honda, having also put in a last minute soft tyre lap. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) completed the top five.

After McLaren had led the way for much of first practice, this time it was Ferrari who proved superior for the majority of the afternoon, having put in soft tyre runs relatively early.

With 15 minutes to go, Raikkonen and Massa sat first and second in the order, just 0.001 seconds apart. Alonso and Button briefly disturbed their command of the session, before Raikkonen restored Ferrari’s advantage with his final lap.

McLaren had a more conservative afternoon, with Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen fifth and sixth…

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:39.477           30
 2.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:39.497 + 0.020   39
 3.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:39.546 + 0.069   35
 4.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:39.678 + 0.201   31
 5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:39.712 + 0.235   31
 6.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:39.954 + 0.477   30
 7.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:39.967 + 0.490   32
 8.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:40.149 + 0.672   35
 9.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:40.439 + 0.962   32
10.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:40.500 + 1.023   23
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:40.585 + 1.108   24
12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:40.607 + 1.130   34
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:40.696 + 1.219   23
14.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:40.742 + 1.265   34
15.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:40.877 + 1.400   32
16.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:40.982 + 1.505   36
17.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:40.999 + 1.522   32
18.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:41.084 + 1.607   35
19.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:41.246 + 1.769   38
20.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:41.377 + 1.900   31

The
Iceman was flying in this session, I could feel it coming in the air
since yesterday! Though he only just beat Alonso, he kept good pace
throughout the session and threw some nice slides around here and
there. Friday’s done and dusted now, let’s keep our fingers crossed for
this kind of momentum to run through to qualifying tomorrow! You can
check out videos from practise here.

| Friday Quotes, Ferrari – Kimi Warns There’s More Speed To Come!

Kimi Raikkonen – 1st: "I like driving this track:
it is different to other street circuits we have known. Yesterday, when
I walked the track, I thought it would be fun and today confirmed that
impression. There are some very quick parts and almost everywhere
there’s a lot of room, maybe similar to some of the North American
circuits used in the past. They have really done a good job. Today, our
weekend got off to a good start, but obviously it is far too early to
say where we are compared to the opposition. Overtaking? It will be
difficult, as always: I hope I don’t need to by getting the best
position in qualifying. The setup we have found today is not bad, but
there is still plenty of room for improvement."

Felipe Massa – 4th: "They were two enjoyable
sessions with the lap times tumbling bit by bit as the drivers lapped
and got confidence in the track layout…Today, it was important that we find a good base setup
immediately and we managed to do that."

Stefano Domenicali, team principal: "…From what we could see, given the usual
unknowns on a Friday, we can say we are competitive. Whether we will be
competitive enough to reach our target will only be revealed starting
with tomorrow afternoon’s qualifying."

Luca Baldisserri: "Overall, a good start to this
Valencia weekend. It was important to get off on the right foot and we
did. We had prepared a baseline set-up for the F2008 and it seems to be
about right, which meant that right from this morning we could work on
improving it. Both drivers are reasonably happy with the handling of
the car…"

| Video – FP2 Kimi Slides
    http://www.viddler.com/simple/c97e58d9/

| Free Practise 1 – Vettel Leads Massa, Hamilton, in Valencia

Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel set a shock fastest time in Friday morning practice for the European Grand Prix, as the Formula One teams began their exploration of the new Valencia street track.

Felipe Massa had to settle for second for Ferrari, while Vettel’s teammate Sebastien Bourdais continued the team’s stunning morning by taking fourth between the two McLarens.

With the brand new circuit still extremely dusty, the times improved by a full nine seconds over the course of the session, and can be expected to get faster still this afternoon.

The major contenders left others to clean the circuit before beginning their work, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen the first of the usual front-runners to move to the top of the times after 28 minutes with a 1:43.948…(read full report here)

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:40.496           29
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:40.654 + 0.158   27
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:40.822 + 0.326   14
 4.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:41.099 + 0.603   31
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:41.163 + 0.667   23
 6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:41.281 + 0.785   24
 7.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:41.317 + 0.821   27
 8.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:41.329 + 0.833   26
 9.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:41.385 + 0.889   31
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:41.706 + 1.210   22
11.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:41.830 + 1.334   27
12.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:41.930 + 1.434   27
13.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:41.951 + 1.455   23
14.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:42.036 + 1.540   27
15.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:42.107 + 1.611   32
16.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:42.453 + 1.957   23
17.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:42.460 + 1.964   29
19.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:43.075 + 2.579   25
19.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:43.312 + 2.816   23
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:43.524 + 3.028   24

Kimi’s not fastest but look at the times! There are quite significant gaps between the drivers and obviously it’s variable due to learning and set ups. Let’s just hope Kimi has a productive day for tomorrow’s qualifying. Session two starts at 1pm local time. Enjoy the new track Kimi!

And it’s also worthy to note that the F1 drivers and leading figures held a 3-minute silence, after the opening practise session in Valencia, as tribute for the lost lives in the Madrid plane crash earlier this week. May the victims rest their souls in peace.

| Video – FP1 Onboard with Kimi     

     http://www.viddler.com/simple/13f48c57/