News On F1 Forums - Talk Formula 1

Fri Practice 1 top eight

Hamilton 1:21.880
Alonso 1:22.268
Raikkonen 1:22.291
Kubica 1:22.446
Massa 1:22.565
Davidson 1:22.665
Trulli 1:22.740
Schumacher 1:22.843
Rosberg 1:23.048

Fernando will be spitting fur down in pit road as I write this!

Thanks Snowy,

Full results are available here

2nd Friday practice session - 30 minutes into the session: Top 8: Hamilton, Speed, Alonso, Fisichella, Kovalainen, Massa, Raikkonen and Heidfeld.

Ed wrote:2nd Friday practice session - 30 minutes into the session: Top 8: Hamilton, Speed, Alonso, Fisichella, Kovalainen, Massa, Raikkonen and Heidfeld.

Speed????

2nd Friday practice session - 60 minutes into the session: Top 8: Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Massa, Heidfeld, Speed, Kubica and Webber.

2nd Friday practice session - 10 minutes remaining: Top 8: Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Massa, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Speed and Kubica.

2nd Friday practice - Top 8: Alonso, Fisichella, Kovalainen, Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Heidfeld

Full Results

Ferrari don't appear to be showing the pace they confidently predicted they'd have here after testing. Either they are sandbagging, have been caught out by the weather or perhaps McLaren - who were talking of 10ths of a second gains - have taken a big step forward. Renault may have found something that could turn their season around, though they were quite quick at Bahrain on Friday only flattering to deceive. The only thing I can think of is that they take out all the fuel and all the ballast for the last laps Friday session two just so their sponsors get a mention!

Snowy: I don't think Renault ever sand bags whereas Ferrari sand bags even when they win. McLaren are on a roll and this could be a big weekend for Fernando and Lewis, but I think the racing gods are about to pull the rug out from under Ron Dennis. No reason. Just a hunch.

Jim Watt

That is a very tight midfield. Good to see TR showing some performance.
Could this be the start grid........
Massa
Hambone
Kimmi
Alonso
Nick
Webbo
Speed?

Just a note on what has been said regarding McLaren's seemingly strong pace and Renault's fast times on Friday.

Martin Whitmarsh had this to say prior to the Spanish GP weekend:

It is a circuit (Barcelona) where if you have a strong aero package with good balance and good high speed corner performance, you can be fast there. We expect to be in Barcelona with an incredibly competitive package, but we are also aware that none of our competitors will have stood still, and we have to make sure that we can improve more than them

I was actually surprised when I read that as McLaren don't usually say such but it seems their pace on Friday proved they are strong in Spain.

Moving to Renault, sadly they were vey light on fuel, Pat Symonds had this to say:

It is obvious that our final laps were done with a lower fuel load as part of our planned technical checks, and that our positions are therefore unrepresentatively high in the timesheets. However, our pace on the long runs seems to show that the status quo has not changed much since Bahrain

I think it will be once again close between McLaren and Ferrari but McLaren may have a slight edge.

Til Hambone t-bones Alonso at T1, lap 1.

Just over 20 minutes into the Saturday practice session and it is Alonso ahead of Hamilton and Massa. Raikkonen hasn't set a time yet. Heidfeld is currently 4th over a second slower than Alonso!

15 minutes remaining in the session and Hamilton is currently fastest ahead of Massa, Raikkonen and Alonso

Session over and Hamilton is fastest just 0.079 ahead of Alonso. Kubica in 3rd ahead of Heidfeld, Coulthard, Massa, Raikkonen and Davidson.

Full results