Friday, May 09, 2008
# posted by Rich @ 11:26 PM
2008 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix: Friday Practice 1
Felipe Massa started the weekend of the 2008 Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix on form, posting a fastest lap time of 1:27.323 to top the time sheet in Friday Practice 1. He beat McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen into second place by over a tenth of a second, and fellow McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton by just over 4 tenths. The man in fourth place was Fernando Alonso - almost a second slower than Massa, but nonetheless demonstrating the Renault's new found form. World champion Kimi Raikkonen would finish the session slowest, almost 3.5 seconds off Massa's pace. The Finn would only do 3 laps before being sidelined by a gearbox problem, and would spend the rest of the session in the pits whilst his gearbox was replaced.
At the start of the session, the track was damp in places (between turns 3 and 9) due to some last minute cleaning of the circuit that had been perfomed. Consequently, there was no running in the first 40 minutes of the session, save for the drivers doing their installation laps. When the drivers finally started venturing out, it appeared as though they were struggling for grip, and there were several slips and slides from the drivers - Nakajima, Trulli, Hamilton, and Massa would all spin during the session, all of whom were getting caught out in the turn 3/4/5 complex of corners.
The Toro Rosso and Red Bull cars endured a less than fruitful session - they would occupy positions 16-19, behind the two Force India cars. The two Hondas enjoyed better performance than they have shown of late - Button was 5th fastest and Rubens Barrichello, who is starting in his record 257th Grand Prix this weekend, was 8th fastest.
Lap Times
At the start of the session, the track was damp in places (between turns 3 and 9) due to some last minute cleaning of the circuit that had been perfomed. Consequently, there was no running in the first 40 minutes of the session, save for the drivers doing their installation laps. When the drivers finally started venturing out, it appeared as though they were struggling for grip, and there were several slips and slides from the drivers - Nakajima, Trulli, Hamilton, and Massa would all spin during the session, all of whom were getting caught out in the turn 3/4/5 complex of corners.
The Toro Rosso and Red Bull cars endured a less than fruitful session - they would occupy positions 16-19, behind the two Force India cars. The two Hondas enjoyed better performance than they have shown of late - Button was 5th fastest and Rubens Barrichello, who is starting in his record 257th Grand Prix this weekend, was 8th fastest.
Lap Times
| Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference | Pos. | Driver | Time | Difference |
| 1. | Massa | 1:27.323 | 11. | Trulli | 1:29.329 | + 2.006 | |
| 2. | Kovalainen | 1:27.456 | + 0.133 | 12. | Kubica | 1:29.330 | + 2.007 |
| 3. | Hamilton | 1:27.752 | + 0.429 | 13. | Rosberg | 1:29.367 | + 2.044 |
| 4. | Alonso | 1:28.284 | + 0.961 | 14. | Sutil | 1:29.756 | + 2.433 |
| 5. | Button | 1:28.919 | + 1.596 | 15. | Fisichella | 1:29.811 | + 2.488 |
| 6. | Nakajima | 1:29.002 | + 1.679 | 16. | Webber | 1:30.088 | + 2.765 |
| 7. | Heidfeld | 1:29.024 | + 1.701 | 17. | Coulthard | 1:30.340 | + 3.017 |
| 8. | Barrichello | 1:29.068 | + 1.745 | 18. | Bourdais | 1:30.388 | + 3.065 |
| 9. | Piquet | 1:29.082 | + 1.759 | 19. | Vettel | 1:30.426 | + 3.103 |
| 10 | Glock | 1:29.103 | + 1.780 | 20. | Kimi Raikkonen | 1:30.732 | + 3.409 |
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix, Turkey
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