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Williams outside top ten in second Friday practice

Nico Rosberg
By Andrew Hooper August 22 2008
The AT&T Williams team would see both their drivers finish outside the top ten in the second Friday practice session for the 2008 European GP. Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima would finish in twelfth and fourteenth positions. Nico would have a major spin during the session, but both drivers were please with the setup direction for their cars. Fastest was Raikkonen.
 
 European GP Friday 2nd Practice
 

With the AT&T Williams team drivers finishing the opening practice session for the 2008 European Grand Prix in eighth and tenth, an improved performance in the second Friday practice was a good possibility. The second Friday practice would get underway with about half the filed coming out for their installation laps. This included both AT&T Williams drivers. With eight minutes of the session run it would be the Torro Rosso's of Bourdais and Vettel who were fastest. Bourdais had a time of 1m:41.246. Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg were in sixth and twelfth grid positions respectively. The circuit was now very busy as Nico moved into fourth with a 1m:42.391. Third was Alonso.

NakajimaOnly Raikkonen and the Red Bull cars had yet to take to the track. Kazuki would improve to now be in fifth, 1m:42.245. But as Hamilton moved into second, 1m:41.373, both Williams drivers would drop down one place. Nico would pit from fifth as Kazuki continued to circulate around the new Valencia circuit. Nico would just as quickly come back out. Kubica was now fourth, 1m:42.207. Nico and Kazuki were now in sixth and seventh. Hamilton would put in a quick lap moving to the top of the times with a 1m:40.671. Massa was now third, 1m:41.414, improving from twelfth. Bourdais remained in second. Vettel was fourth followed by Button, Kubica, Alonso, Nico, Kazuki, and in tenth Trulli.

Hamilton would pit as Sutil improved to be in fourth with a 1m:41.721, after having gone fastest in the last sector. Both Williams drivers had pitted. With an hour and twelve minutes remaining the order was Hamilton from Bourdais, Massa, Sutil, Vettel, Button, Kubica, Alonso, Fisichella, Nico, and Kazuki in eleventh. Fisichella would improve to now be in sixth with a 1m:41.942. Raikkonen had left the pit lane and he would jump up the order to be in second with a 1m:40.878. Heidfeld was now fourth. Raikkonen had used the softer tyre in his second position run.

Raikkonen would improve with a 1m:40.776 but remained in second. Nico had returned to the track and he and Kazuki had dropped down the order to be
thirteenth and fourteenth. Both were over 1.5 seconds off the fastest time. Both Red Bull cars remained in their pits. Hamilton was back out on the track as the first of the Red Bulls cars, Coulthard, came out. On his first lap Nico would go fastest, 1m:40.607, but this was beaten by Raikkonen with a 1m:40.536. Kovalainen was out on the softer tyres and was in eighth improving from eighteenth. Button would improve to be fifth, 1m:41.255. Most of the field was out on the track.

Kazuki was also out on the track but way down the order in eighteenth. Only two drivers were in their pits as Webber finally came out. Coulthard would pit having set the fifteenth fastest time. Kazuki would move up the order to now be in sixth, 1m:41.271, using the harder tyre. Nico would pit as with just under an hour left the order was now Massa , 1m:39.976, followed by Raikkonen, Nico, Hamilton, Sutil, Bourdais, Button, Kazuki, Heidfeld, and Kovalainen. Kazuki had pitted, joined by Nico.

Webber was last with a 1m:47.400. Raikkonen would also pit briefly as Kubica moved into third, 1m:40.542. Kubica had joined Massa on the softer tyre.
Fisichella was now in seventh, 1m:41.178. Nico would return to the track as Raikkonen returned to his pit. Kubica would also pit. Nico was again on the harder tyre while most of his rivals were using the softer tyre. Nico would have a big moment spinning a the corner coming onto the pit straight. Nico was told to see how his tyres were after having most likely flat spotted them.

Nico would say that the tyres were finished. He would return to the pits. Kazuki had returned to the track and had improved to be sixth with a 1m:40.742. Kazuki was on the softer tyre. Nico would say to his engineer that he did not realise the downforce loss would be so big as he came up behind another car on his lap seeing him spin his FW30 as a result. The top six drivers were all back in the pit lane. With forty two minutes remaining the order was Massa from Raikkonen, Kubica, Nico, Hamilton, Kazuki, Sutil, Fisichella, Alonso, and Vettel in tenth.

Running on the harder tyre Kovalainen would improve to be third, 1m:40.515. Both Williams drivers would return to the track as Button moved up to ninth. Massa had pitted while most of the other drivers in the top ten back out with thirty five minutes left in the session. On the softer tyres Raikkonen was able to move ahead of Massa with a 1m:39.679. Nico and Kazuki were in fifth and seventh. Sixth placed Hamilton would pit. Piquet was really struggling currently slowest on the track, 1m:42.200.

Glock was in eighth, 1m:40.933, as Bourdais took to the run-off area. Hamilton was on the softer tyre and was able to improve moving up to third, 1m:40.134, to be ahead of Kovalainen. Nico and Kazuki were now in sixth and seventh. Alonso would also have a moment taking to the run-off. Massa was on the harder tyre improving with a 1m:39.769 to now be just 0.09 behind Raikkonen. Raikkonen would pit while Massa continued to push going fastest in sector one. On the softer tyres Glock would jump up the order to now be in third, 1m:39.967. Nico and Kazuki were now in seventh and eighth.

Both Williams drivers continued to complete longer runs in the second session. Kazuki would pit with twenty two minutes remaining. Nico would come in shortly after. Coulthard would improve to now be in eighth, 1m:40.696. Team-mate Webber was down in eighteenth. Massa was now fastest with a 1m:39.678 to be just 0.001 ahead of Raikkonen. Glock had improved his time, 1m:39.967, but remained in third. Both Massa and Webber would take to the run-off. Massa would pit. Trulli had improved to be in tenth with a 1m:40.877.

Kubica was on the softer tyre and would improve to fifth with a 1m:40.149. Raikkonen and Kazuki were back out on the track with eleven minutes left. Kimi was on the harder tyre. Nico was also back out as the session drew to a close. Of the top eleven only Massa and Coulthard remained i8n the pits. The circuit was still proving to be a handful with the drivers struggling for grip in places. Massa remained in his car while his mechanics worked on the rear of the car with the engine cover off. Kovalainen was now third, 1m:39.954, using the softer tyres.

Hamilton was also on the softer tyre and was able to move ahead of Kovalainen with a 1m:39.712. Nico and Kazuki were in seventh and ninth. Massa would return to the track with five minutes left. The order was Massa from Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Kubica, Nico, Coulthard, Kazuki and Trulli. But in somewhat of a surprise Alonso would move to the top of the times with a
1m:39.497, using the softer tyre. Only Barrichello was in the pits as everyone came out for their final runs of the day. Nico would pit briefly as Piquet moved into eighth, 1m:40.439. Button was now second with a 1m:39.546.

As the session came to an end there would be a rush of drivers setting quick times. This would see Nico and Kazuki drop down the order to be in twelfth and fourteenth as the session came to an end. Raikkonen was able to improve to move ahead of Alonso with a 1m:39.477. Alonso was second followed by Button, Massa, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Kubica, Piquet, and in tenth Fisichella. Raikkonen had set his time on the harder tyre. The session was a very mixed affair with some drivers setting quick times on the softer tyre and some on the harder option.

As for the Williams team it is still early days as they come to grips with this new circuit plus it was hard to determine how many of the drivers in front of them had set their quicker times on lower fuel runs. Saturday will give a far better indication of the exact extent as to how the Williams team is travelling.

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

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