Friday, April 04, 2008
# posted by Rich @ 9:33 AM
2008 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix: Friday Practice 1
Friday first practice looked at though it was pretty much to plan for the Ferraris - Felipe Massa topped the session with a time of 1:32.233, edging out his team mate Kimi Raikkonen by just over a tenth of a second. Third place was a bit of a surprise though - Nico Rosberg posted a time 1:32.415, just shy of two tenths slower than Massa. Rosberg's pace is not necessarily unexpected, as this is a circuit that he has excelled at in the past. However, his time was set towards the end of the session, and he could very well have been on a low fuel run.
Behind him were the two McLarens of Hamilton and Kovalainen, who were ahead of Kazuki Nakajima, who was also showing strong pace in his Williams. The top ten was rounded out by Kubica, Trulli, Coulthard, and Alonso.
The track looked very dusty and dirty at the beginning of the session, and few drivers ventured out early, save for making installation runs. As seems to be the norm, though, Sebastien Bourdais was out on track early in an effort to give himself the maximum amount of time to learn and adapt. He would finish the session 15th, although he did not complete the most laps. That honour fell to his team mate Sebastian Vettel, who completed 32 laps, and set the 16th fastest time. Most drivers completed between 16 - 24 laps, although the Super Aguris completed only six each. There was very little running on the Option tyres - other than installation laps, only the two Toro Rosso drivers ventured out on the softer rubber, which they did at the end of the session. Speaking of tyres, it looked like Lewis Hamilton had a set of extreme weather tyres on when he did his installation lap, although that could have been a trick of the camera.
There were no major incidents in the session, although several drivers has small offs. Most of the drama seemed to happen at the final corner - turn 14 - with several drivers running wide, including Fisichella, Webber, Nakajima, and Raikkonen. After his off-track excursion, Kimi Raikkonen spent a long time in the pits whilst the front of the car was worked on. It is possible that there was some minor damage. Several other drivers were caught out at turns 9 and 10, including Adrian Sutil - who missed the entry to turn 10 on one lap, then ran wide on the exit of turn 10 on the next lap - and Lewis Hamilton, who had quite a large left-front lock up into turn 9, followed by monstrous oversteer on the exit of turn 10. It looked as though he was struggling with the balance of the car somewhat.
Others who were struggling a little bit were Robert Kubica, who was complaining of rear tyre degradation and that turns 9 and 10 were "bad"; and Nelsinho Piquet, who complained that the car was difficult to drive and that rubber was flying off the tyres - presumably he was having graining problems. He may also have been having a minor electrical problem - the team asked him to confirm which position his tyre switch was in (wet or dry) because they noticed his rear light was on (with the switch in the dry position as it turned out). Nico Rosberg also may have been having technical issues - he asked his team to check what the differential was doing on the exit of corners. The Williams team have had problems with the differential on Rosberg's car already this year.
The track temperature crept up throughout the session from 35 degrees celcius to 42, although the air temperature only rose from 27 to 29 degrees. This is a natural consequence of the sun's intensity increasing up to midday, but the fact that the humidity dropped drastically during the session - from 31% to 22% - and thus more of the suns rays were able to reach the track and warm it up also played a part. The wind was gusting somewhat, almost perpendicular to the pits straight, although this didn't seem to affect the amount of dust or sand on the track. Nevertheless, none of the big guns (excluding Rosberg, of course) were able to improve upon their times set earlier in the session, probably as a consequence of the higher track temperatures.
The track and air temperatures will most likely be higher for P2, which will result in less grip. Couple that with the fact that the drivers will be pushing harder in P2, and we will likely see more off-track excursions and probably some spins as well.
Lap Times
Behind him were the two McLarens of Hamilton and Kovalainen, who were ahead of Kazuki Nakajima, who was also showing strong pace in his Williams. The top ten was rounded out by Kubica, Trulli, Coulthard, and Alonso.
The track looked very dusty and dirty at the beginning of the session, and few drivers ventured out early, save for making installation runs. As seems to be the norm, though, Sebastien Bourdais was out on track early in an effort to give himself the maximum amount of time to learn and adapt. He would finish the session 15th, although he did not complete the most laps. That honour fell to his team mate Sebastian Vettel, who completed 32 laps, and set the 16th fastest time. Most drivers completed between 16 - 24 laps, although the Super Aguris completed only six each. There was very little running on the Option tyres - other than installation laps, only the two Toro Rosso drivers ventured out on the softer rubber, which they did at the end of the session. Speaking of tyres, it looked like Lewis Hamilton had a set of extreme weather tyres on when he did his installation lap, although that could have been a trick of the camera.
There were no major incidents in the session, although several drivers has small offs. Most of the drama seemed to happen at the final corner - turn 14 - with several drivers running wide, including Fisichella, Webber, Nakajima, and Raikkonen. After his off-track excursion, Kimi Raikkonen spent a long time in the pits whilst the front of the car was worked on. It is possible that there was some minor damage. Several other drivers were caught out at turns 9 and 10, including Adrian Sutil - who missed the entry to turn 10 on one lap, then ran wide on the exit of turn 10 on the next lap - and Lewis Hamilton, who had quite a large left-front lock up into turn 9, followed by monstrous oversteer on the exit of turn 10. It looked as though he was struggling with the balance of the car somewhat.
Others who were struggling a little bit were Robert Kubica, who was complaining of rear tyre degradation and that turns 9 and 10 were "bad"; and Nelsinho Piquet, who complained that the car was difficult to drive and that rubber was flying off the tyres - presumably he was having graining problems. He may also have been having a minor electrical problem - the team asked him to confirm which position his tyre switch was in (wet or dry) because they noticed his rear light was on (with the switch in the dry position as it turned out). Nico Rosberg also may have been having technical issues - he asked his team to check what the differential was doing on the exit of corners. The Williams team have had problems with the differential on Rosberg's car already this year.
The track temperature crept up throughout the session from 35 degrees celcius to 42, although the air temperature only rose from 27 to 29 degrees. This is a natural consequence of the sun's intensity increasing up to midday, but the fact that the humidity dropped drastically during the session - from 31% to 22% - and thus more of the suns rays were able to reach the track and warm it up also played a part. The wind was gusting somewhat, almost perpendicular to the pits straight, although this didn't seem to affect the amount of dust or sand on the track. Nevertheless, none of the big guns (excluding Rosberg, of course) were able to improve upon their times set earlier in the session, probably as a consequence of the higher track temperatures.
The track and air temperatures will most likely be higher for P2, which will result in less grip. Couple that with the fact that the drivers will be pushing harder in P2, and we will likely see more off-track excursions and probably some spins as well.
Lap Times
| Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference | Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference |
| 1. | Massa | 1:32.233 | 12. | Webber | 1:33.950 | + 1.717 | |
| 2. | Raikkonen | 1:32.350 | + 0.177 | 13. | Piquet | 1:33.981 | + 1.748 |
| 3. | Rosberg | 1:32.415 | + 0.182 | 14. | Heidfeld | 1:34.106 | + 1.873 |
| 4. | Hamilton | 1:32.705 | + 0.472 | 15. | Bourdais | 1:34.235 | + 2.002 |
| 5. | Kovalainen | 1:32.868 | + 0.635 | 16. | Vettel | 1:34.321 | + 2.088 |
| 6. | Nakajima | 1:33.121 | + 0.888 | 17. | Fisichella | 1:34.892 | + 2.659 |
| 7. | Kubica | 1:33.333 | + 1.100 | 18. | Button | 1:34.915 | + 2.682 |
| 8. | Trulli | 1:33.539 | + 1.306 | 19. | Barrichello | 1:35.174 | + 2.941 |
| 9. | Coulthard | 1:33.788 | + 1.555 | 20. | Sutil | 1:35.429 | + 3.196 |
| 10. | Alonso | 1:33.815 | + 1.582 | 21. | Davidson | 1:36.145 | + 3.912 |
| 11. | Glock | 1:33.929 | + 1.696 | 22. | Sato | 1:36.536 | + 4.303 |
Labels: Bahrain, Formula 1, Grand Prix
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