Rosberg third in opening Bahrain practice


Nico in third

By Andrew Hooper
April 4 2008

AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg would finish in an encouraging third after the opening practice sesssion for the 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix. Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima would finish in sixth. Both drivers would set their times late in the session in what some observers said were qualifying type runs. They would use the harder of the two compounds available. Overall a positive start to the weekend.

 
 Bahrain GP Friday 1st Practice
 

The opening Friday practice would see Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg take to the track early to complete their installation lap. It would take until around the thirty minute mark before the two drivers would return to the track. Early in the session Kazuki and Nico would be as high as third and fourth. Nico would improve at one time to be in second behind Trulli.

NakajimaBut as the session continued the Williams drivers would drop down the order to see Nico eleventh, 1m:33.959, and Kazuki fourteenth, 1m:34.463, with twenty five minutes remaining in the session. Nico and Kazuki would return to the track looking to improve their times. After failing to improve they would both pit. At the front it was Massa leading from Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Kubica, Trulli, Coulthard, Alonso, Glock, and Webber in tenth.

With the final minutes counting down both Nico and Kazuki would return to the track. The only drivers still in their pits were Hamilton and Alonso. Kazuki had dropped to fifteenth. Nico was able to put in a very quick lap to move up to third, 1m:32.415. Kazuki would follow suit as move up to now be in sixth, 1m:33.121. With the end of the session Kazuki would pit first followed by Nico. Both drivers were able to set their times on the harder of the two Bridgestone compounds. As to what fuel they were running is an unknown.

 
Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:32.233  20
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:32.350  15
 3.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:32.415  23
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:32.705  21
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:32.868  20
 6.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:33.121  24
 7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:33.333  16
 8.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:33.539  27
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:33.788  20
10.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:33.815  19
11.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:33.929  28
12.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:33.950  20
13.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:33.981  24
14.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:34.106  17
15.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:34.235  27
16.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:34.321  32
17.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:34.892  20
18.  Button        Honda                (B)  1:34.915  16
19.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:35.174  12
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:35.429  22
21.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:36.145  6 
22.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:36.536  6
 

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Rosberg third in opening Baharin practice
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 04/04/2008 10:06
Williams F1
04/04/2008 10:06
Rosberg third in opening Baharin practice

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