Turkey 2008: Friday Morning Practice

The fifth round of the 2008 Formula One World Championship got underway earlier this morning, with Felipe Massa going fastest in the pre-lunch practice around the Istanbul Circuit. Having won the previous two Turkish Grands Prix, Massa is quite handy at this track and his lap time was 0.133s faster than second-placed driver Heikki Kovalainen. Showing no signs from his accident a fortnight ago, Kovalainen pipped his team mate into second, while both McLarens looked much more comfortable than they have done in the previous two or three races.

Unfortunately for Ferrari, while Massa was at the top of the tables, Kimi Raikkonen was at the bottom. The Finnish driver was forced to sit out most of the session with a faulty gearbox and managed to complete only three laps. Interestingly, it took about forty-minutes before anybody ventured out on to the damp tarmac, reported to be because of delayed circuit cleaning rather than weather-related. This, combined with a cold start to the day meant there were a fair few trips and spins across the run-off areas.

Kazuki Nakajima, Adrian Sutil, Jarno Trulli, Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton all viewed the scenery at T3-6. T7 witnessed Giancarlo Fisichella perform well-orchestrated pirouette, and the hugely-challenging T8 caught out Robert Kubica, David Coulthard, Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil.

The remainder of the table is as expected for the morning session; a little odd in places but nothing too out of the ordinary. The biggest disappointment came from the Red Bulls, with Mark Webber and Coulthard only getting into sixteenth and seventeenth respectively. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button started their weekend’s well with fourth and fifth, Nakajima slotting in behind in sixth for Williams and Rubens Barrichello managed eighth before breaking for lunch.

Turkey Friday Practice One