Fuji 2008: Friday Morning Practice

Fuji 2008: Friday Morning Practice

The first 90 minute session for the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix has come to a close with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton at the top of the timing sheet. The McLaren driver was closely followed by Felipe Massa a little over a tenth behind, while Heikki Kovalainen posted the third best time of the morning 0.2s shy of Massa. Kimi Raikkonen completed the McLaren/Ferrari sequence by going fourth and Renault slotted into fifth and sixth with Fernando Alonso going faster than Nelson Piquet Jr.

The session saw no adverse weather and no real surprises, although David Coulthard found himself towards the bottom of the tables in nineteenth and just ahead of Force India pilot Giancarlo Fisichella. Conversely, Fisichella’s team mate Adrian Sutil ran well and found himself in eleventh after the ninety minutes were up. Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais enjoyed a good start to their weekend’s as well with Vettel getting into seventh and Bourdais in ninth.

Bridgestone Tyres With Green StripesAll the cars were running the green-striped Bridgestone tyre, designed to promote environmental causes. Of course, they looked terrible on all but the Hondas, the subtle green on the Japanese cars managing to make the tyres look only just bearable. The busiest driver of the morning was Timo Glock, completing 37 laps in his Toyota. The least busiest was Heikki Kovalainen, only feeling the need to tour the Fuji Speedway 20 times.

The difference between the fastest and slowest laps was only 2.104s and the Japanese squads did not make a great impression; Honda in sixteenth and seventeenth and Toyota in fifteenth and eighteenth. Williams driver and local hero Kazuki Nakajima placed himself in tenth, powered by the Toyota engine.

Fuji 2008: Friday Free Practice One

1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m18.910s 23 Laps
2. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m19.063s 24 Laps
3. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1m19.279s 20 Laps
4. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m19.399s 31 Laps
5. Fernando Alonso Renault 1m19.473s 30 Laps
6. Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 1m19.743s 35 Laps
7. Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m20.121s 30 Laps
8. Robert Kubica BMW 1m20.160s 26 Laps
9. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m20.182s 34 Laps
10. Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1m20.217s 25 Laps
11. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m20.288s 26 Laps
12. Nico Rosberg Williams 1m20.350s 28 Laps
13. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m20.620s 24 Laps
14. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1m20.628s 23 Laps
15. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m20.657s 33 Laps
16. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1m20.753s 32 Laps
17. Jenson Button Honda 1m20.769s 27 Laps
18. Timo Glock Toyota 1m20.823s 37 Laps
19. David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1m20.905s 24 Laps
20. Giancarlo Fishcella Force India 1m21.014s 28 Laps

Images Copyright © Williams and HondaF1.

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