F1 - AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX - FRIDAY FREE PRACTICE # 1

[Rory Phoulorie]

Friday free practice (1) - Australian Grand Prix.

1. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Mercedes 1m 29.214s
2. Felipe Massa BRA Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.707s
3. Sebastien Vettel GER BMW-Sauber 1m 30.857s
4. Lewis Hamilton GBR McLaren-Mercedes 1m 30.878s
5. Jenson Button GBR Honda-Honda 1m 31.162s
6. Kazuki Nakajima JPN Williams-Toyota 1m 31.401s
7. David Coulthard GBR Red Bull-Renault 1m 31.528s
8. Heikki Kovalainen FIN Renault-Renault 1m 31.571s
9. Mark Webber AUS Red Bull-Renault 1m 31.661s
10. Rubens Barrichello BRA Honda-Honda 1m 31.737s
11. Takuma Sato JPN Super Aguri-Honda 1m 31.782s
12. Giancarlo Fisichella ITA Renault-Renault 1m 32.011s
13. Alex Wurz AUT Williams-Toyota 1m 32.194s
14. Adrian Sutil GER Spyker-Ferrari 1m 34.043s
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi ITA Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 34.627s
16. Christijan Albers NED Spyker-Ferrari 1m 35.055s
17. Nick Heidfeld GER BMW-Sauber 1m 37.249s
18. Anthony Davidson GBR Super Aguri-Honda 1m 39.221s
19. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 39.242s
20. Ralf Schumacher GER Toyota-Toyota 1m 39.550s
21. Scott Speed USA Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 41.763s
22. Jarno Trulli ITA Toyota-Toyota 1m 44.130s

all times unofficial

http://www.crash.net/news_View~cid~1~id~144565.htm

[Rory Phoulorie]

Champ best in the damp.

World champion Fernando Alonso opened his second title defence in determined fashion by putting his McLaren-Mercedes at the head of the timesheets after a mixed first practice in Melbourne.

With unseasonable rain again hitting Albert Park on grand prix weekend, all 22 drivers who took part in the session had to contend with a damp track for the majority of the first new-look 90-minute session. Only the final few minutes gave the teams any cause to run one of the two Bridgestone dry weather options on offer, with Alonso timing his lap just right to take opening honours.

The Spaniard struck an early mental blow for McLaren after beating Felipe Massa's Ferrari into second spot by well over a second, but the Brazilian won't be reading too much into the result given the conditions and the usual mix of programmes being carried out in Friday practice. Massa's focus will have been on team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, and he would have needed long sight to catch a glimpse of the Finn, who languished down in 19th spot, despite completing the same number of laps.

Indeed, Ferrari will take confidence from the fact that Massa managed to secure second spot on the back of just seven tours, while Alonso racked up 23 circuits in posting his P1 times. The Spaniard was beaten only by rookie Adrian Sutil in terms of workload, the German Spyker driver completing 26 laps on his first visit to the Australian GP circuit.

Sebastien Vettel claimed third spot for BMW-Sauber, the Hinwil-based team opting to run its reserve driver in place of Robert Kubica in the opening session. Vettel, who is missing a World Series group test to be in Melbourne, was 1.2secs adrift of Alonso's pace, but comfortably ahead of team-mate Nick Heidfeld, who completed just over half the distance achieved by his countryman, but led through most of the wettest part and did not go out at the end.
The use of reserve drivers was limited, with Kazuki Nakajima replacing Nico Rosberg at Williams the only other unexpected face. The Japanese driver claimed sixth spot after 21 laps on his Williams debut, while team-mate Alex Wurz took 13th after taking 18 laps to play himself back into the Melbourne track.

Between Vettel and Nakajima lay two British drivers, with Lewis Hamilton underlining his ability by taking fourth-fastest time on his first visit to Albert Park. The Briton completed 'just' 14 laps in the process too, marking himself out as a definite dark horse this weekend.

Jenson Button was the second Brit in the top five, transcending Honda's testing pace to lie ahead of the Renaults and Raikkonen's Ferrari, but no doubt benefiting from a dry lap at the right time. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello rounded out the top ten, one place behind local favourite Mark Webber, who was the first to try 'slicks' on the drying track. When the Red Bull pilot was rewarded with a substantial gain in time, the majority of the field followed suit, demoting the RB3 in the process.

Webber's team-mate, Davide Coulthard, claimed seventh, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen, making the Scot the best-placed Renault-powered driver in the session. The second 'works' car, piloted by Giancarlo Fisichella, was twelfth.

Between Barrichello and Fisichella lay Takuma Sato, who sat out much of the session, but caught a break in the conditions to put his Super Aguri higher up the order than would have been expected had the entire session been dry. The team only launched the SA07 in the Melbourne pit-lane on Wednesday and are not expecting great things this weekend. Rookie team-mate Anthony Davidson was 18th quickest.

The Briton thus found himself ahead of Raikkonen, Scott Speed and the two Toyotas, but the Finn, in particular, did not get a clear lap when conditions were at their best and will expect to climb the order when session two kicks off after the lunch break.

http://www.crash.net/news_View~cid~1~id~144567.htm

[obeiron]

This should be a great race....strange to see Raikkonen so far down. Did anyone get a chance to look at this on SpeedTV...was it blacked out?

[Rory Phoulorie]

[obeiron]