Bahrain 2008: Friday Practice Sessions

Bahrain 2008: Friday Practice Sessions

Felipe Massa - 2008 Bahrain Grand PrixAfter a rather unsavoury week in the world of Formula One it is of relief I get to write about what the sport is actually about; brave drivers going as fast as possible. And would you believe it, the fastest in both morning and afternoon sessions was none other than Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. The diminutive Brazilian has taken a fair amount of stick in the past three weeks having failed to score points in the opening two rounds of the championship. But today he popped in a 1.32.233s and a 1m31.420s to out-pace team mate Kimi Raikkonen by just over 0.1s both times.

Nico Rosberg ran well in the morning, putting his Williams FW30 into third and going 0.3s faster than Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren. Kazuki Nakajima also showed improvement by placing the sister Williams in a fine sixth. The afternoon session however saw Nico slip to sixth and Kazuki to eighth. Their performance was great to see though and they are looking quite good for the rest of the weekend.

Lewis didn’t run well in the first session, but it should be noted a few drivers slipped off the dusty track and took detours around the scenery. Although the young McLaren driver started the 90 minute session well, he was unable to keep pace with the two Ferrari’s and ended up fourth. Team mate Heikki Kovalainen suffered a similar fate before breaking for lunch, placing his MP4-23 in fifth.

The afternoon session didn’t go much better for Hamilton either, his McLaren finding its way into the barriers after just 26 laps. The British hopeful dropped the car going through T7 and caused considerable damage to the right-hand side of the McLaren.

It was a shame that I ended what had been a productive day going off the circuit and hitting the barriers at Turn Seven,. I was just pushing and sometimes these things happen. I am absolutely fine, and hopefully the damage to the car is not too bad. Lewis Hamilton.

The other minor surprises from the morning were the off-pace STR’s, Sebastien Bourdais getting the legs on his team mate Sebastian Vettel and landing in fifteenth, Vettel one place behind. Honda also struggled in the morning’s running with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello only just keeping ahead of junior team Super Aguri. Button and Barrichello broke for lunch in eighteenth and nineteenth respectively.

After lunch though the Hondas improved with Button getting up to eleventh and Barrichello sixteenth. Sister team remained at the bottom of the timing sheet with Force India just ahead, sandwiching an off-pace Vettel in twentieth.

Bahrain Friday Practice One

1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m32.233s 20 Laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m32.350s 15 Laps
3. Nico Rosberg Williams 1m32.415s 23 Laps
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m.32.705s 21 Laps
5. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1m32.868s 20 Laps
6. Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1m33.121s 24 Laps
7. Robert Kubica BMW 1m33.333s 16 Laps
8. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m33.539s 27 Laps
9. David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1m33.788s 20 Laps
10. Fernando Alonso Renault 1m33.815s 19 Laps
11. Timo Glock Toyota 1m33.929s 28 Laps
12. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m33.950s 20 Laps
13. Nelson Piquet Jr Renault 1m33.981s 24 Laps
14. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1m34.106s 17 Laps
15. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m34.235s 27 Laps
16. Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m34.321s 32 Laps
17. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 1m34.892s 20 Laps
18. Jenson Button Honda 1m34.915s 16 Laps
19. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1m35.174s 12 Laps
20. Adrian Sutil Force Aguri 1m35.429s 22 Laps
21. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri 1m36.145s 6 Laps
22. Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1m36.536s 6 Laps

Bahrain Friday Practice Two

1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m31.420s 30 Laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m32.327s 30 Laps
3. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1m32.752s 30 Laps
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m.32.847s 26 Laps
5. Robert Kubica BMW 1m32.915s 29 Laps
6. Nico Rosberg Williams 1m33.022s 34 Laps
7. David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1m33.048s 27 Laps
8. Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1m33.098s 33 Laps
9. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m33.197s 37 Laps
10. Nelson Piquet Jr Renault 1m33.247s 37 Laps
11. Jenson Button Honda 1m33.710s 33 Laps
12. Fernando Alonso Renault 1m33.755s 26 Laps
13. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m33.782s 34 Laps
14. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m33.822s 38 Laps
15. Timo Glock Toyota 1m33.856s 30 Laps
16. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1m33.966s 30 Laps
17. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1m34.023s 36 Laps
18. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 1m34.388s 35 Laps
19. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m34.405s 34 Laps
20. Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m34.787s 30 Laps
21. Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1m35.288s 24 Laps
22. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri 1m35.712s 25 Laps

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