McLaren Second and Third in First Free Practise
By Emma Aitken May 9 2008
Things got off to a slow start in Istanbul this morning due to a damp track. It wasn't the rain that caused the hold up though. The track was slow in being cleared. The damp patches resulted in no one going out for a lap for the first forty minutes of the session. Many cars had spun offs even after the wait.
Things got off to a slow start in Istanbul this morning due to a damp track. It wasn't the rain that caused the hold up though. The track was slow in being cleared. The damp patches resulted in no one going out for a lap for the first forty minutes of the session. Many cars had spun offs even after the wait.
Felipe Massa did what he does best at in Turkey and dominated the first free practise session. It took a while for the session to get started though due to a large damp patches around the circuit. Late track cleaning caused the problem though, not rain. The teams could do nothing but sit it out until the track dried out. Bourdais was the first to venture out, forty minutes in to the session and once he went, the others followed.
Temperatures stayed low in Istanbul which made it difficult for drivers to generate sufficient temperatures in their Bridgestones. Nakajima, Sutil, Trulli, Massa and Hamilton all spun or went off the track on their first runs. Fisichella rotated on the exit of turn 7.
Kovalainen’s time of 1.28.283 became the time to beat and it was Massa who finally did so. His team mate did not have such a good time of it though. As the track dried Raikkonen came out for 3 laps but had to return to the garage with a gear box problem. He didn’t make it back out so he finished the first session in last place.
Hamilton could not better Kovalainen’s second placed spot, finishing the free practise session in third.
Alonso’s return to form continued with him taking the fourth fastest position. Jenson button had a great morning too, coming in just behind the Spaniard. Barrichello kept the other Honda in the top ten by finishing eighth.
Nakajima looked to be on top form in his Williams, completing his morning in sixth. Piquet and Glock completed the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively. POS Driver Team Time Laps 1 Massa Ferrari 1.27.323 16 2 Kovalainen McLaren 1.27.456 17 3 Hamilton McLaren 1.27.752 15 4 Alonso Renault 1.28.284 16 5 Button Honda 1.28.919 12 6 Nakajima Williams 1.28.002 19 7 Heidfeld BMW 1.28.024 21 8 Barrichello Honda 1.28.068 11 9 Piquet Renault 1.28.082 23 10 Glock Toyota 1.28.103 19 11 Trulli Toyota 1.28.329 24 12 Kubica BMW 1.28.330 7 13 Rosberg Williams 1.28.367 20 14 Sutil Force India 1.28.756 23 15 Fisichella Force India 1.28.811 23 16 Webber Red Bull Racing 1.30.088 21 17 Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1.30.340 13 18 Bourdais Toro Rosso 1.30.388 19 19 Vettel Toro Rosso 1.30.426 21 20 Raikkonen Ferrari 1.30.732 3
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