06/04/2007
NEWS STORY
Ahead of this morning's free practice session the air temperature is 31 degrees C, while the track temperature is 37 degrees. It is bring and sunny, with the humidity running at 60 percent.
As in Melbourne, Williams and BMW are running their third drivers in this session, with Nakajima replacing Wurz and Vettel replacing Heidfeld.
The lights go green, and first out is Albers, followed by Trulli, Vettel, Sutil, Kovalainen, Fisichella, Ralf and Kubica. Rosberg, Alonso and Hamilton are the other early risers. The Englishman, who has not raced here before, takes advantage of the wide, almost empty track, to make a practice start.
One by one, having completed an installation lap, the drivers return to their garages.
Of course, the action isn't only taking place on track today. Attention is divided between the practice sessions and the decisions of the race stewards following yesterday's protest of the Toro Rosso cars by Spyker. A decision is expected later this morning, but it's anyone's guess what's going to happen.
Ten minutes into the session - with Massa, Raikkonen and Coulthard yet to make an appearance - Vettel is the first driver to come out for a second run. Hopefully, we are about to see the first timed lap of the weekend.
Sure enough, the German completes an out lap and continues around, the clock begins ticking. He crosses the line at 1:41.919, around 8s off last year's pole time.
As both Renaults head down the pitlane, in the back of the Ferrari garage, Kimi Raikkonen is preparing to make his first run of the day.
Kovalainen posts 1:39.633, but moments later Vettel improves with a 39.082. Fisichella goes third quickest with a 39.328.
As Coulthard finally leaves the pits, Rosberg takes the top spot (38.579), ahead of Vettel and Kovalainen. The Renault driver keen to put his Melbourne nightmare behind him.
Talking of Melbourne, Lewis Hamilton goes quickest in the first two sectors, finally crossing the line at 1:36.582. Trulli goes second, albeit 1.3s off the McLaren driver's pace.
Alonso and Fisichella both go very wide, the Spaniard going on to post a 36.675, which puts him second.
Ralf Schumacher goes third (37.815), and is very, very lucky not to be hit by Fisichella, who appears unable to decide whether he wants to pull into the pits or not. He moves across the track, almost collecting the Toyota. It's hard to tell from this angle exactly how close that was, but it certainly looked bad. At the time, Fisi was on the radio to his team.
Elsewhere, Raikkonen and Massa are both on track. Unlike their rivals, who all chose to complete installation laps, the Ferrari drivers get right down to it from the outset. The Finn posts 36.359 to go quickest ahead of Hamilton, who takes to the grass in the pitlane!.
All eyes on Massa however, who at the second split is 0.558s up on his Ferrari teammate. The Brazilian crosses the line at 1:35.265, 0.514s up on his teammate.
Next time around, Massa improves in the first two sectors but eases off in the third, consequently he fails to improve. Elsewhere, a little 'wobble' for Vettel.
With 56 minutes remaining, it's: Massa, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher, Trulli, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Fisichella and Vettel. The Ferraris - and yes, we are still at an early stage - are in a league of their own, with the top ten covered by over 3s.
Massa improves with a 35.107, then again to 34.972. He's 0.8s up on his teammate and 1.5s clear of (third placed) Hamilton.
Alonso posts a 35.767 to go second, as the Ferrari crew swarm over Kimi Raikkonen's car. There is concern over the Finn's race engine, which developed a water leak in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix. However, that is not the unit he's using today, which is essentially a free for all.
As Kubica and Webber go sixth and seventh, Nakajima stops on track. Stranded in his car on the outside of the hairpin, he tells his crew that he is unable to find any gears. The replay shows the Japanese driver spinning to a halt after what is clearly a technical problem. His car is eventually pushed off track, his session over.
The first four are covered by 1.5s, however, the next six or seven drivers are covered by a second. Therefore, although the Ferraris and McLarens are out in front, we have an interesting battle developing behind.
With 35 minutes remaining, it's: Massa, Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Schumacher, Kubica, Webber, Trulli, Vettel and Kovalainen. Both Honda are over 4s off the pace. Still no times for Davidson, Sato or Coulthard.
Although we stress that this is still very early in the weekend, it is worth noting that Albers and Sutil are both over 4.4s off the pace, despite the much talked about aero upgrade.
Both Ferraris are back on track, as Alonso goes off, the Spaniard getting all crossed up as he pushes to match the pace of the Italian cars. On the pit-wall Ron Dennis is as impassive as ever.
Davidson finally posts a time, the Englishman crossing the line at 39.788 to go nineteenth, splitting Barrichello and Albers.
In terms of laps completed, Vettel is the busiest thus far, having completed 26. However, he remains ninth quickest, 2.8s off the pace. Sutil has completed 20, with Alonso and Fisichella both on 18.
In the Honda garage, Button is clearly not a happy bunny. He remains seventeenth, 4.3s off the pace. Elsewhere, Albers complains of oversteer.
Tonio Liuzzi is currently eleventh in the Toro Rosso, ahead of Rosberg and Fisichella. Speed is sixteenth, ahead of the Hondas.
With eighteen minutes remaining, there are just three drivers on track, Trulli, Vettel and Albers.
"The front grip isn't there," complains Kovalainen. "There's too much understeer, even if I try to be really aggressive, it's not there." The Finn is currently tenth quickest, 3.17s off the pace.
Elsewhere, with thirteen minutes remaining, Mark Webber mumbles something about "going bananas", much to the confusion of his crew. In the adjacent garage, his teammate waits, clearly frustrated, having completed just three laps, the only driver that hasn't posted a time.
Surprisingly, there are no improvements, indeed there haven't been any for some time. That said, with seven minutes remaining we'll hopefully see a few drivers move up the timesheets before the end of the session.
Raikkonen is back on track, as is Hamilton and the Honda duo.
The Finn gets all crossed up, but handles it absolutely beautifully. Meanwhile, Webber improves to fourth (36.522), ahead of Hamilton. However, the Englishman is on a quick lap, as is Nakajima, who is back in action following his earlier failure.
Hamilton goes second, albeit .740s off Massa pace, as Alonso also looks set to improve. Sure enough, the Spaniard goes second with a 35.220. Webber remains in fifth, ahead of Trulli, Nakajima, Schumacher and Kubica.
That said, Rosberg demotes his former teammate, crossing the line at 36.308.
Raikkonen remains fourth, but is unable to make any impression on his teammate's time. Meanwhile, Coulthard finally gets onto the timesheets, posting 37.498 to go eleventh. The Red Bull looks very good, despite a major lock up.
The session ends, with Massa quickest, 0.248s ahead of Alonso, who is followed by Hamilton, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Webber, Trulli, Nakajima, Schumacher and Kubica.
Early days, but the Ferraris and McLaren are in a league of their own, while several teams, most notably Renault and Honda, clearly have a lot of work to do.