F1: Chinese GP Prac Two: Kimi snatches P1 from Alonso

[Rory Phoulorie]

Friday 5th October 2007

A last-gasp effort from Kimi Raikkonen saw him top the timesheets at the end of Friday's practice for the Chinese GP.

Despite trailing both the McLarens and his team-mate for most of the session, Raikkonen put in a flying lap in the dying seconds of Practice Two that saw take the lead.

The Finn, who is still in the hunt for this year's World title although only marginally, posted a 1:36.607 around the 5.400 km-long track to steal P1 from Fernando Alonso by the smallest of margins: 0.006s.

Third place went to Felipe Massa, who finished a further 0.017s back, in what was one of the closest-fought practice sessions of the season.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton set the fourth best time but found himself almost a quarter of a second slower than his title rivals.

It was a good afternoon for Toyota and Red Bull, who completed the top eight with Jarno Trulli leading Mark Webber, Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard.

There were a couple of spinners during the session with Massa going off at Turn Three, Trulli at Turn Nine and Alex Wurz and Hamilton both at Turn One.

Jenson Button, Coulthard, Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto also had a few wary moments as they fought to stay on the track.

Meanwhile Nick Heidfeld's problematic start to the weekend continued when he stopped out on track, just as he had done in Practice One.

12 minutes into the session the German pulled off the main circuit and into a back road into the pit-lane. Although his car was quickly returned to the BMW garage, Heidfeld only managed to get back out for the final twenty minutes of the session. He finished P14.

Heikki Kovalainen was another driver to experience problems as he came to a halt out on track halfway through practice. He ended the session 12th on the timesheets.

Times
01 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari 1:36.607 31 laps
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:36.613 28 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:36.630 29 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:36.876 33 laps
05 J. Trulli Toyota 1:37.151 36 laps
06 M. Webber Red Bull 1:37.450 34 laps
07 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:37.524 32 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:37.617 27 laps
09 N. Rosberg Williams 1:37.646 36 laps
10 G. Fisichella Renault 1:37.970 32 laps
11 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:38.062 21 laps
12 J. Button Honda 1:38.205 41 laps
13 R. Barrichello Honda 1:38.304 40 laps
14 R. Kubica BMW 1:38.379 39 laps
15 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:38.388 16 laps
16 A. Wurz Williams 1:38.531 32 laps
17 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:38.975 38 laps
18 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.062 36 laps
19 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:39.224 37 laps
20 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:39.360 37 laps
21 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.404 34 laps
22 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:40.051 38 laps

Planet-F1