German Car Zone

PanterroR · 04-13-2007, 05:42 AM

Ok, here we go. Friday, 1st practice, Ferrari leads the way:

It's gonna be interesting for sure...

My wish for this race: BMW in the top 5, nothing else.

Oh, and go Hamilton! If McLaren is going to win, i hope it will be this little fella!

Short summary for F1-Live.com:

Quote:

Kimi Raikkonen’s first laps in the Ferrari were enough to vault him to the top of the timesheets and the Finn would not be dislodged in the opening 90 minute practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

Felipe Massa underlined the pace of the F2007 package as he too vaulted up the order to second fastest after sitting out the first half of the session. Raikkonen set a best lap of 1:33.162s half a second clear of Massa, while the McLaren Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso proved closely matched - but a second off the ultimate pace in third and fourth positions.

While it was pretty much as expected at the very front, Toyota showed well in this session with Jarno Trulli leading the way early on before being bumped down to fifth position as the session progressed. However, the 1.7s gap to Raikkonen shows how much of an advantage the Ferrari team have over the upper mid-field runners.

Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica were sixth and seventh fastest for BMW Sauber while Tonio Liuzzi banged in a fast lap right at the end of the session to move from 18th to eighth in his Toro Rosso Ferrari. Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz, who suffered a spin late in the session, rounded out the top ten for Williams Toyota.

Honda will be mildly encouraged to Jenson Button record the 11th fastest time in the troublesome FA107. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello meanwhile languished down in 17th position.

Over at Renault and there seems to be no magic answer to their relative decline this year as Heikki Kovalainen was just 12th fastest with team-mate Fisichella behind the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher in 14th position. Scott Speed led team-mate Liuzzi up until the final minute of practice and was 15th fastest ahead of Takuma Sato, Barrichello and Anthony Davidson.

Red Bull Renault struggled for pace with Mark Webber and David Coulthard just 19th and 20th… Adrian Sutil got within a second of the Red Bull duo in his Spyker Ferrari while Christijan Albers was over a second off his team-mate at the back of the pack.

It is early days in Bahrain, but the F2007 looks like the package to have this weekend…

Centurion · 04-13-2007, 06:05 AM

Hopefully Kimi will start at pole position so we get to see a real battle between him and Alonso. I'm surprised Hamilton is so quick around most of the track even though he has far less experience on them compared with the majority of his opponents.

PanterroR · 04-13-2007, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luwalira

I'm surprised Hamilton is so quick around most of the track even though he has far less experience on them compared with the majority of his opponents.

McLaren's car works perfectly so far...

Zonda · 04-13-2007, 06:06 AM

I think McLaren didn't go full out in the practice. Think Ferrari opened the taps a little bit more.

Will be interesting for sure.

But Ferrari were good in Bahrain in testing so I think they can pull it off if they get a good start.

Centurion · 04-13-2007, 06:25 AM

BTW what has happened to david coulthard and ralph schumacher? I remember watching F1 2-3 years ago looking at them standing on the podium one in a while but now days they suck ass. Are they getting too old or what?

PanterroR · 04-13-2007, 06:27 AM

Let's just say those were the times when they've had much better cars than today...

RikfromBelgium · 04-13-2007, 06:29 AM

Coulthards jaw just grew too big and it was impossible to make him a helmet and fit into the car. so they had to adjust the car, making it slower. It's the truth, I tell ya

Centurion · 04-13-2007, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RikfromBelgium

Coulthards jaw just grew too big and it was impossible to make him a helmet and fit into the car. so they had to adjust the car, making it slower. It's the truth, I tell ya

LMAO!

BMW_Dude · 04-13-2007, 08:42 AM

Here's free practice 2!

1 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:33.527

2 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.540

3 10 Robert Kubica BMW 1:33.732

4 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:33.772

5 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.784

6 17 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:33.973

7 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:34.076

8 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:34.189

9 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:34.359

10 12 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:34.366

11 8 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:34.391

12 4 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:34.585

13 23 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:34.595

14 15 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:34.677

15 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:34.796

16 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:35.001

17 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Ferrari 1:35.268

18 11 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:35.427

19 20 Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:35.582

20 19 Scott Speed STR-Ferrari 1:35.687

21 21 Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 1:35.835

22 7 Jenson Button Honda 1:36.079

Source = Formula1.com

PanterroR · 04-13-2007, 08:49 AM

Looking good for BMW...

Go Hamilton!

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