Oliver White
Reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso showed no signs of relenting his pressure on his colleagues today as free practice started at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia. Alonso took the top of the timing sheets in the first session, pipping rival Felipe Massa by a large margin. However, it should be noted that the circuit was damp in the morning, and Alonso managed to pop in a quick one before the end of the session on the ever dryng track. BMWs Sebastian Vettel subbed for Robert Kubica initially and managed to set the third quickest lap.
Lewis Hamilton confirmed the almighty power of McLaren by going fourth, followed by Jenson Button in his earthly Honda. Surprise of the session was probably the Red Bull’s, which managed seventh with David Coulthard, and ninth with Mark Webber. The Red Bull’s hadn’t appeared too fast during the winter, but improvements have obviously been made for the aging duo to be as high up as they are.
Renault had a lack lustre session, as did Toyota who propped up the timing sheet with Jarno Trulli in 22nd, and Ralf I’m in the top three Schumacher finishing in just 20th. Yes Ralf, you are one of the finest racing drivers this planet has seen. The Spykers also ran better than expected, with Christijan Albers ending up in 16th, and new-boy Adrian Sutil in 14th.
Free Practice One:
1. Alonso – McLaren – 1m29.214s
2. Massa – Ferrari – 1m30.707s
3. Vettel – BMW – 1m30.857s
4. Hamilton – McLaren – 1m30.878s
5. Button – Honda – 1m31.162s
6. Nakajima – Williams – 1m31.401s
7. Coulthard – Red Bull Racing – 1m31.528s
8. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m31.571s
9. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m31.661s
10. Barrichello – Honda – 1m31.737s
11. Sato – Super Aguri – 1m31.782s
12. Fisichella – Renault – 1m32.011s
13. Wurz – Williams – 1m32.194s
14. Sutil – Spyker – 1m34.043s
15. Liuzzi – Toro Rosso – 1m34.627s
16. Albers – Spyker – 1m35.055s
17. Heidfeld – BMW – 1m37.249s
18. Davidson – Super Aguri – 1m39.221s
19. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1m39.242s
20. Schumacher – Toyota – 1m39.550s
21. Speed – Toro Rosso – 1m41.763s
22. Trulli – Toyota – 1m44.130s
Free Practice Two restored some normality to the proceedings, with Felipe Massa beating his new team mate Kimi Raikkonen by 0.4s, and Lewis Hamilton continuing his impressive debut with a third place to compound his fourth earlier in the day. Renault saw a change of wind with Giancarlo Fisichella placing his Renault R27 in fourth, but with Heikki Kovalainen in 18th it isn’t all rosey in the Reggie garage.
Alonso couldn’t replicate his form from earlier, finishing in seventh behind Nick Heidfeld’s BMW and Alex Wurz’s Williams. Nico Rosberg tailed Alonso by 0.015s, being chased down by Robert Kubica and David Coulthard. Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato continued the impressive start to Super Aguri’s season finishing in 11th and 13th respectively. Toyota, Spyker and Toro Rosso failed to impact the timing sheet too much, as predicted.
Free Practice Two:
1. Massa – Ferrari – 1m27.353s
2. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1m27.750s
3. Hamilton – McLaren – 1m27.829s
4. Fisichella – Renault – 1m27.941s
5. Heidfeld – BMW – 1m27.970s
6. Wurz – Williams – 1m27.981s
7. Alonso – McLaren – 1m28.040s
8. Rosberg – Williams – 1m28.055s
9. Kubica – BMW – 1m28.281s
10. Coulthard – Red Bull Racing – 1m28.495s
11. Davidson – Super Aguri – 1m28.727s
12. Trulli – Toyota – 1m28.921s
13. Sato – Super Aguri – 1m29.009s
14. Button – Honda – 1m29.066s
15. Barrichello – Honda – 1m29.542s
16. Schumacher – Toyota – 1m29.574s
17. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m29.801s
18. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m30.097s
19. Speed – Toro Rosso – 1m30.383s
20. Sutil – Spyker – 1m31.108s
21. Albers – Spyker – 1m31.175s
22. Liuzzi – Toro Rosso – 1m31.693s
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