Valencia 2008: Friday Afternoon Practice

With the second free practice session now completed at the new Valencia circuit in Spain, it is Kimi Raikkonen who leads local hero Fernando Alonso at the top of the tables. The Spaniard had posted a fastest lap towards the end of the 90 minute session but on his final tour, Raikkonen went 0.02s faster and went to the top. The real surprise of the afternoon was Jenson Button though, who managed to claim third in his Honda RA108.

Felipe Massa pushed the McLaren duo down to fifth and sixth while the Force Indias showed improvements with their seamless shift gear box. Giancarlo Fisichella went tenth while team mate Adrian Sutil managed seventeenth. And although Honda were looking fine with Button near the top, Rubens Barrichello ended Friday at the very bottom of the timing sheets. The circuit did improve further with laptimes improving by about a second, but rain this evening in Valencia could undo all the hard work by washing away the rubber that has been laid down.

Tomorrow’s qualifying reports will be late as I am away for the afternoon, but Saturday’s running should prove to be very exciting and I will post all the details in the late evening.

Valencia 2008: Friday Free Practice Two