Mr.Sam
04-04-2008, 03:25 PM
source: http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=42206
Video Highlights: http://www.itv-f1.com/VideoHighlights.aspx
Felipe Massa completed a perfect first day for himself and Ferrari at Sakhir as he headed the team’s second 1-2 of the day in Friday’s second practice session.
The Brazilian, under pressure to deliver a strong result in Bahrain, produced by far the fastest lap seen this weekend, 1m31.420s, in the closing minutes to knock team-mate Kimi Raikkonen from the head of the timesheet by a mammoth 0.9s.
McLaren had been unable to challenge its Italian rival’s superiority in either session and has a lot of work to do overnight on both pace and car repairs after Lewis Hamilton crashed heavily towards the end of practice
The Briton got his MP4-23 well up on the kerb on the downhill exit of turn seven, but suddenly lost grip.
His car snapped sideways, sending him across the gravel into a side-on impact with a barrier.
Hamilton walked away unscathed, but the accident did major damage to both the rear and right side of his car.
He had been on a quick lap trying to reclaim third place after team-mate Heikki Kovalainen had just popped ahead of him in the order.
Ferrari had played down any talk that its pre-season test at Sakhir might give it any kind of advantage over its chief rival – but nevertheless Massa’s late flyer ensured the Woking squad ended the day over 1.3s off the top.
Once again most of the session had played host to a private duel between the Ferrari duo.
After Raikkonen and Hamilton had each taken an early turn at the top, Massa beat them both with a 1m32.722s lap.
He went on to use the soft-tyres to take a further 0.3s off that effort, before Raikkonen briefly eclipsed that with his final 1m32.327s lap three minutes from the end.
Massa then blew everybody else out of the water with his headline-grabbing final run.
Behind the usual top four, BMW’s Robert Kubica finished the 90-minute session just behind the two McLarens on pace to give the German squad much encouragement heading into the business end of the weekend.
Williams will also be optimistic of its chances of bouncing back from its nightmare Sepang weekend as Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima proved their morning pace was no fluke by finishing sixth and eighth respectively.
David Coulthard completed a strong day with the seventh-fastest time for Red Bull, with rookies Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) and Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault) rounding off the top 10.
Unusually, Piquet was ahead of his double world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso.
The Spaniard spent most of the second session languishing towards the bottom of the order and although he eventually clawed his way back up to 12th, he had a spin at turn one in the closing stages.
Toyota, the other team to test at Sakhir in February, had a disappointing afternoon and ended it down in 14th and 15th spots.
Jarno Trulli in particular was one of many drivers to struggle with the handling of his car, as the notorious Sakhir winds grew in the afternoon, blowing up sand and making driving conditions tricky.
Bahrain Grand Prix free practice session two times
1. MASSA Ferrari 1m31.412s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m32.327s
3. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m32.752s
4. HAMILTON McLaren 1m32.847s
5. KUBICA BMW 1m32.915s
6. ROSBERG Williams 1m33.022s
7. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m33.048s
8. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m33.098s
9. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m33.197s
10. PIQUET Renault 1m33.247s
11. BUTTON Honda 1m33.710s
12. ALONSO Renault 1m33.755s
13. WEBBER Red Bull 1m33.782s
14. TRULLI Toyota 1m33.822s
15. GLOCK Toyota 1m33.856s
16. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m33.966s
17. HEIDFELD BMW 1m34.023s
18. FISICHELLA Force India 1m34.388s
19. SUTIL Force India 1m34.405s
20. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m34.787s
21. SATO Super Aguri 1m35.288s
22. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m35.712s
Video Highlights: http://www.itv-f1.com/VideoHighlights.aspx
Felipe Massa completed a perfect first day for himself and Ferrari at Sakhir as he headed the team’s second 1-2 of the day in Friday’s second practice session.
The Brazilian, under pressure to deliver a strong result in Bahrain, produced by far the fastest lap seen this weekend, 1m31.420s, in the closing minutes to knock team-mate Kimi Raikkonen from the head of the timesheet by a mammoth 0.9s.
McLaren had been unable to challenge its Italian rival’s superiority in either session and has a lot of work to do overnight on both pace and car repairs after Lewis Hamilton crashed heavily towards the end of practice
The Briton got his MP4-23 well up on the kerb on the downhill exit of turn seven, but suddenly lost grip.
His car snapped sideways, sending him across the gravel into a side-on impact with a barrier.
Hamilton walked away unscathed, but the accident did major damage to both the rear and right side of his car.
He had been on a quick lap trying to reclaim third place after team-mate Heikki Kovalainen had just popped ahead of him in the order.
Ferrari had played down any talk that its pre-season test at Sakhir might give it any kind of advantage over its chief rival – but nevertheless Massa’s late flyer ensured the Woking squad ended the day over 1.3s off the top.
Once again most of the session had played host to a private duel between the Ferrari duo.
After Raikkonen and Hamilton had each taken an early turn at the top, Massa beat them both with a 1m32.722s lap.
He went on to use the soft-tyres to take a further 0.3s off that effort, before Raikkonen briefly eclipsed that with his final 1m32.327s lap three minutes from the end.
Massa then blew everybody else out of the water with his headline-grabbing final run.
Behind the usual top four, BMW’s Robert Kubica finished the 90-minute session just behind the two McLarens on pace to give the German squad much encouragement heading into the business end of the weekend.
Williams will also be optimistic of its chances of bouncing back from its nightmare Sepang weekend as Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima proved their morning pace was no fluke by finishing sixth and eighth respectively.
David Coulthard completed a strong day with the seventh-fastest time for Red Bull, with rookies Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) and Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault) rounding off the top 10.
Unusually, Piquet was ahead of his double world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso.
The Spaniard spent most of the second session languishing towards the bottom of the order and although he eventually clawed his way back up to 12th, he had a spin at turn one in the closing stages.
Toyota, the other team to test at Sakhir in February, had a disappointing afternoon and ended it down in 14th and 15th spots.
Jarno Trulli in particular was one of many drivers to struggle with the handling of his car, as the notorious Sakhir winds grew in the afternoon, blowing up sand and making driving conditions tricky.
Bahrain Grand Prix free practice session two times
1. MASSA Ferrari 1m31.412s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m32.327s
3. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m32.752s
4. HAMILTON McLaren 1m32.847s
5. KUBICA BMW 1m32.915s
6. ROSBERG Williams 1m33.022s
7. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m33.048s
8. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m33.098s
9. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m33.197s
10. PIQUET Renault 1m33.247s
11. BUTTON Honda 1m33.710s
12. ALONSO Renault 1m33.755s
13. WEBBER Red Bull 1m33.782s
14. TRULLI Toyota 1m33.822s
15. GLOCK Toyota 1m33.856s
16. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m33.966s
17. HEIDFELD BMW 1m34.023s
18. FISICHELLA Force India 1m34.388s
19. SUTIL Force India 1m34.405s
20. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m34.787s
21. SATO Super Aguri 1m35.288s
22. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m35.712s