F1: Prac One: Rivals quicker than Lewis in China

[Rory Phoulorie]

Friday 5th October 2007

The battle for the F1 World title resumed in Shanghai on Friday where both Lewis Hamilton's title rivals proved to be quicker than the McLaren rookie.

Kimi Raikkonen, who is 17 points adrift of Hamilton and therefore still stands a very slim chance of beating the Brit to the title, set the pace in the opening practice session for the Chinese GP.

The Finn clocked a 1:37.024 to beat Fernando Alonso, who is also still in the title race, by 0.084s. Alonso is just 12 points behind his McLaren team-mate in the standings.

Felipe Massa set the third fastest time, while Hamilton came home in fourth place, just 0.186 seconds off the pace.

Meanwhile behind Ferrari and McLaren an intense battled raged in the midfield with one driver from Williams, BMW, Toyota and Renault finishing in the top eight.

Nico Rosberg was the best of that battle, claiming fifth place ahead of Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella. Only half a second separated the four drivers.

Times
01 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari 1:37.024 23 laps
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:37.108 18 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:37.128 21 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:37.210 20 laps
05 N. Rosberg Williams 1:37.707 23 laps
06 R. Kubica BMW 1:38.055 23 laps
07 J. Trulli Toyota 1:38.208 30 laps
08 G. Fisichella Renault 1:38.217 16 laps
09 K. Nakajima Williams 1:38.270 30 laps
10 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:38.445 13 laps
11 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:38.551 17 laps
12 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:38.661 23 laps
13 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:38.700 25 laps
14 J. Button Honda 1:38.942 18 laps
15 R. Barrichello Honda 1:38.945 22 laps
16 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:39.238 23 laps
17 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.497 22 laps
18 M. Webber Red Bull 1:39.535 23 laps
19 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:39.539 20 laps
20 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39.898 24 laps
21 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1:40.126 27 laps
22 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:40.149 26 laps

Planet-F1