Friday, April 04, 2008
# posted by Rich @ 2:49 PM
2008 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix: Friday Practice 2
Felipe Massa was again top of the time sheet in Friday Practice 2, with a stunningly fast time of 1:31.420 - 9 tenths faster than his team mate Raikkonen in second place. Heikki Kovalainen was third fastest, and team mate Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest. However, towards the end of the session, Hamilton spun and crashed his McLaren MP4/23, causing substantial damage to the car.
The McLarens had been off the pace of the Ferraris the whole session, and with around 9 minutes of the session remaining, Hamilton was pushing hard to post a better time and leapfrog Kovalainen into third place. At the exit of the downhill left-hand turn 7, Hamilton ran wide over the kerbs. The car snapped away to the left, and Hamilton slid across the track and impacted heavily into the barriers almost side on. Hamilton was unhurt, but the right hand side of the car, especially the right rear, took a beating. His car looked rather used up, and his mechanics will now have a task ahead of them to repair it.
There were few other incidents in the session - the track temperature cooled off from 43 celcius to 34 celcius during the session and more rubber went down, both of which improved the grip levels. Furthermore, most drivers used the softer Option tyres for a good part of the session. Nevertheless, there were some moments from some of the drivers. Fernando Alonso had a particularly erratic session - he had a couple of lock ups and slides into, around, and out of turn 10 and then in the final minutes of the session he had a clash with Adrian Sutil in the Force India car. Alonso was close behind Sutil coming up to turn 1, and it appeared as if the Spaniard missed his braking point - he skewed to the right, then attempted to take Sutil up the inside of the corner, but it was a gap that was closing fast. The two made contact, and both spun, although there didn't appear to be much damage.
Robert Kubica had a good session, and finished 5th fastest, ahead of Rosberg, Coulthard, Nakajima, Bourdais, and Piquet. The Williams cars were fast in P1, and impressed again in P2. Particularly impressive were the efforts of Piquet - who outperformed his illustrious team mate for the first time - and Bourdais, who must feel quite pleased with his progress - he complained early on in the session that the track was in terrible shape, that there was no grip, and that he was sliding around like crazy. Indeed several drivers complained about various issues: Coulthard said that the aero configuration of his car was "not happy" and that the rear of the car was not aero stable, perhaps as a result of some aero tweaks for this weekend; Button complained about locking the rear tyres, and felt that it contributed to him having a small off; and Rosberg complained that he was locking the front wheels in some places and the rear wheels in others, and speculated that it was due to the wind. Whatever the reason, Rosberg had a big off-track excursion at turn 13 - he ran wide onto the kerbs, then simply could not turn in to the corner and ended up running through a gravel trap before rejoining the circuit.
Most drivers did around 25-35 laps in the session. The two Super Aguri drivers again did the fewest number of laps (24 each).
So, it appears as though the Ferraris have the pace and the momentum at the moment. The McLarens seem a little off the pace so far this weekend. And the Williams cars seem very much on the pace. The rest of the weekend could be very exciting.
Lap Times
The McLarens had been off the pace of the Ferraris the whole session, and with around 9 minutes of the session remaining, Hamilton was pushing hard to post a better time and leapfrog Kovalainen into third place. At the exit of the downhill left-hand turn 7, Hamilton ran wide over the kerbs. The car snapped away to the left, and Hamilton slid across the track and impacted heavily into the barriers almost side on. Hamilton was unhurt, but the right hand side of the car, especially the right rear, took a beating. His car looked rather used up, and his mechanics will now have a task ahead of them to repair it.
There were few other incidents in the session - the track temperature cooled off from 43 celcius to 34 celcius during the session and more rubber went down, both of which improved the grip levels. Furthermore, most drivers used the softer Option tyres for a good part of the session. Nevertheless, there were some moments from some of the drivers. Fernando Alonso had a particularly erratic session - he had a couple of lock ups and slides into, around, and out of turn 10 and then in the final minutes of the session he had a clash with Adrian Sutil in the Force India car. Alonso was close behind Sutil coming up to turn 1, and it appeared as if the Spaniard missed his braking point - he skewed to the right, then attempted to take Sutil up the inside of the corner, but it was a gap that was closing fast. The two made contact, and both spun, although there didn't appear to be much damage.
Robert Kubica had a good session, and finished 5th fastest, ahead of Rosberg, Coulthard, Nakajima, Bourdais, and Piquet. The Williams cars were fast in P1, and impressed again in P2. Particularly impressive were the efforts of Piquet - who outperformed his illustrious team mate for the first time - and Bourdais, who must feel quite pleased with his progress - he complained early on in the session that the track was in terrible shape, that there was no grip, and that he was sliding around like crazy. Indeed several drivers complained about various issues: Coulthard said that the aero configuration of his car was "not happy" and that the rear of the car was not aero stable, perhaps as a result of some aero tweaks for this weekend; Button complained about locking the rear tyres, and felt that it contributed to him having a small off; and Rosberg complained that he was locking the front wheels in some places and the rear wheels in others, and speculated that it was due to the wind. Whatever the reason, Rosberg had a big off-track excursion at turn 13 - he ran wide onto the kerbs, then simply could not turn in to the corner and ended up running through a gravel trap before rejoining the circuit.
Most drivers did around 25-35 laps in the session. The two Super Aguri drivers again did the fewest number of laps (24 each).
So, it appears as though the Ferraris have the pace and the momentum at the moment. The McLarens seem a little off the pace so far this weekend. And the Williams cars seem very much on the pace. The rest of the weekend could be very exciting.
Lap Times
| Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference | Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference |
| 1. | Massa | 1:31.420 | 12. | Alonso | 1:33.755 | + 2.335 | |
| 2. | Raikkonen | 1:32.327 | + 0.907 | 13. | Webber | 1:33.782 | + 2.362 |
| 3. | Kovalainen | 1:32.752 | + 1.332 | 14. | Trulli | 1:33.822 | + 2.402 |
| 4. | Hamilton | 1:32.847 | + 1.427 | 15. | Glock | 1:33.856 | + 2.436 |
| 5. | Kubica | 1:32.915 | + 1.495 | 16. | Barrichello | 1:33.966 | + 2.546 |
| 6. | Rosberg | 1:33.022 | + 1.602 | 17. | Heidfeld | 1:34.023 | + 2.603 |
| 7. | Coulthard | 1:33.048 | + 1.628 | 18. | FIsichella | 1:34.388 | + 2.968 |
| 8. | Nakajima | 1:33.098 | + 1.678 | 19. | Sutil | 1:34.405 | + 2.985 |
| 9. | Bourdais | 1:33.197 | + 1.777 | 20. | Vettel | 1:34.787 | + 3.367 |
| 10. | Piquet | 1:33.247 | + 1.827 | 21. | Sato | 1:35.288 | + 3.868 |
| 11. | Button | 1:33.710 | + 2.290 | 22. | Davidson | 1:35.712 | + 4.292 |
Labels: Bahrain, Formula 1, Grand Prix
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