05/04/2008
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole free practice session, the air temperature is 28 degrees and the track temperature is 42 degrees. It is bright and sunny, as ever.
The lights go green and Jarno Trulli is one of the first out on track, as is Lewis Hamilton, who crashed yesterday and has had his car rebuilt overnight. Teammate Kovalainen, however, remains in his garage.
Ten minutes into the session, all but Raikkonen, Massa, Vettel, Button and Barrichello have been out for an installation lap.
The Toyota boys, Trulli and Glock, are the first to come out for their second runs. The Italian posts the first time of the day (35.608), while his German teammate can only manage 36.994.
Although Trulli improves, Bourdais goes straight to the top of the timesheets with a 34.595. Barrichello goes fourth and Hamilton fifth, ahead of Heidfeld and Kubica.
After fifteen minutes, there's still no sign of the Ferraris going out. Meanwhile, Barrichello improves to second and Heidfeld fourth.
Vettel complains of difficulty getting his brakes up to temperature, as Rosberg goes quickest in the first sector. As the German goes quickest in the second sector, his Japanese teammate, Nakajima, goes quicker in the first. The German goes quickest with a 33.421, while his teammate makes it a Williams 1-2 with a 34.052. The Williams looking good again this weekend.
Hamilton watches the overhead screen as his teammate begins his first flying lap of the day. The Finn posts 34.397 to go third.
Hamilton takes to the track as Vettel goes third with a 34.098, demoting Kovalainen. A fast final sector sees Hamilton go fourth with a 34.125.
Next time around the Englishman improves to second with a 34.046, but it is Rosberg who still dominates the timesheets. Elsewhere, Vettel gets seriously out of shape but somehow keeps it together.
Webber goes fifth, ahead of Alonso and Kubica, who is about to begin a flying lap. In the Ferrari garage, Raikkonen - who was fined for speeding in the pitlane yesterday - dons his gloves and prepares to go out.
Alonso leapfrogs Webber, but the Renault neither looks or sounds good.
Almost thirty-five minutes into the session, the Ferraris finally come out to play. Massa wastes no time in showing that yesterday's pace was no fluke, he goes quickest in the first sector, and is still comfortably up on Rosberg at the second split. At the line the Brazilian posts 33.219, to go quickest by 0.202.
Those Toro Rosso boys are always complaining. This time it's Bourdais, "there's no grip," he says, "the car's not doing anything".
Raikkonen begins his first flying lap, but a mistake in the second sector (he goes wide), leaves him 3.3s off the pace. Unbelievably, next time around the Finn does it again, this time in the final sector.
In the meantime, Coulthard has gone third, ahead of Hamilton, Nakajima and Vettel. That said, Hamilton is back on track.
This time there are no mistakes from Raikkonen, he takes third with a 33.675. Elsewhere, Hamilton gets out of shape, followed by a beautiful bit of drifting.
As the session moves into its final phase, Sutil goes sixth with a 34.049, however, an improvement from Bourdais sees the German drop to seventh.
Ten minutes remaining, and it's: Massa, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Coulthard, Bourdais, Hamilton, Sutil, Nakajima, Vettel and Alonso.
Button (medium) goes third with a 33.600, while Barrichello, also on mediums, posts a personal best in the first sector. The Brazilian goes third, demoting his Honda teammate, indicating that at this time the medium compound is the one to be on.
Vettel (medium) goes fifth, ahead of Raikkonen, with just over six minutes remaining.
Kubica (soft) is the only man on track, and as he goes quickest in the first sector, more and more cars head down the pitlane. Game on! At the second split the BMW driver is 0.138s up on Massa, crossing the line at 33.024 to go quickest.
Hamilton (softs) is on track, as Trulli and Glock both post personal bests in the first sector. The Italian (soft) goes quickest of all in the second sector, 0.6s quicker than Hamilton, finally crossing the line at 32.901 to go quickest. A great lap.
Piquet goes third, but Massa and Rosberg are on hot laps. The German goes quickest (32.521) as Webber goes second. However, moments later the pair are split by Massa, who posts 32.726.
Coulthard goes fifth as the chequered flag is waved, but almost all the drivers are on track and still have to complete their final lap.
Alonso fails to improve, and remains thirteenth, while Nakajima takes sixth ahead of Kubica and Piquet.
Probably not worth reading too much into it - though some will - but Heidfeld ends the session in twentieth, 1.553s off the pace, just two places behind Hamilton, who is 1.138s off the pace.
An interesting session, but one that tells us very little.