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Bartek Sikorski · 04-13-2007, 05:46 AM

Raikkonen leads early Ferrari dominance.

Fri 13 Apr, 10:42 AM

Kimi Raikkonen headed a Ferrari 1-2 in the opening practice session for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, lapping almost a second faster than the best of the McLarens.
The Finn bided his time before entering the 90-minute session, no doubt keen for others to clear the dust and sand from the track surface, but was immediately on the pace, showing the benefit if having tested at the Sakhir circuit in the build-up to the new season. Although the Australian GP winner eventually completed 21 laps, it was his early tours that counted most, taking him to the head of the time and proving to be out of the reach of everyone else.
That included Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa who, despite finishing as second fastest, was 0.517secs adrift of the Finn. Massa followed a similar programme to his Maranello colleague, completing 17 laps in the second half of the session, and enjoyed a comfortable cushion back to third spot, which was occupied by Sepang nemesis Lewis Hamilton.
The Briton matched his rival in terms of lap count, but could do nothing about either Ferrari in terms of pace, as Massa lapped nearly half a second quicker, meaning that Raikkonen was a massive 0.9secs clear. Although Fernando Alonso ensured that both McLarens were in the top four, he proved close only to his rookie team-mate - the pair split by just 0.05secs.
While the top four were filled pretty much as expected, especially after all bar Williams and Spyker had taken up the opportunity to test at Sakhir pre-season, the rest of the field was pretty fluid, with Jarno Trulli giving Toyota some early encouragement in fifth and Vitantonio Liuzzi providing the surprise of the session by hauling his Toro Rosso up into eighth, sandwiching the two BMW Saubers.
Defying its absence from the pre-season group test, Williams managed to put both its regular pilots into the top ten, with Nico Rosberg ahead of Alex Wurz. Both will be out again in the second session later in the day, with regular reserve Kazuki Nakajima otherwise engaged on his GP2 debut. Likewise, both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica - sixth and seventh respectively - will get the full complement of testing, with Sebastian Vettel away on World Series duty and Timo Glock joining Nakajima in the F1 support paddock. Jenson Button gave Honda a shot in the arm with eleventh but, with team-mate Rubens Barrichello back in 17th, the team will wait for further developments before knowing whether it can get its hopes up. The Briton did finish ahead of both Renaults, however - with Heikki Kovalainen quicker than Giancarlo Fisichella - and Ralf Schumacher's Toyota. Super Aguri were also slower than Button, with Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson taking 16th and 18th respectively, leaving Red Bull to fend off Spyker at the foot of the timesheets. The Silverstone team was clearly missing the data it could have gathered from the Sakhir test, Adrian Sutil lapping half a second off David Coulthard and 3.9secs from Raikkonen respectively.

04-13-2007, 05:46 AM	#9 (permalink)
Bartek Sikorski Advocate Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 771 Thanks: 277 Thanked 510 Times in 248 Posts	Re: Bahrain - McLaren or Ferrari? Raikkonen leads early Ferrari dominance. Fri 13 Apr, 10:42 AM Kimi Raikkonen headed a Ferrari 1-2 in the opening practice session for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, lapping almost a second faster than the best of the McLarens. The Finn bided his time before entering the 90-minute session, no doubt keen for others to clear the dust and sand from the track surface, but was immediately on the pace, showing the benefit if having tested at the Sakhir circuit in the build-up to the new season. Although the Australian GP winner eventually completed 21 laps, it was his early tours that counted most, taking him to the head of the time and proving to be out of the reach of everyone else. That included Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa who, despite finishing as second fastest, was 0.517secs adrift of the Finn. Massa followed a similar programme to his Maranello colleague, completing 17 laps in the second half of the session, and enjoyed a comfortable cushion back to third spot, which was occupied by Sepang nemesis Lewis Hamilton. The Briton matched his rival in terms of lap count, but could do nothing about either Ferrari in terms of pace, as Massa lapped nearly half a second quicker, meaning that Raikkonen was a massive 0.9secs clear. Although Fernando Alonso ensured that both McLarens were in the top four, he proved close only to his rookie team-mate - the pair split by just 0.05secs. While the top four were filled pretty much as expected, especially after all bar Williams and Spyker had taken up the opportunity to test at Sakhir pre-season, the rest of the field was pretty fluid, with Jarno Trulli giving Toyota some early encouragement in fifth and Vitantonio Liuzzi providing the surprise of the session by hauling his Toro Rosso up into eighth, sandwiching the two BMW Saubers. Defying its absence from the pre-season group test, Williams managed to put both its regular pilots into the top ten, with Nico Rosberg ahead of Alex Wurz. Both will be out again in the second session later in the day, with regular reserve Kazuki Nakajima otherwise engaged on his GP2 debut. Likewise, both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica - sixth and seventh respectively - will get the full complement of testing, with Sebastian Vettel away on World Series duty and Timo Glock joining Nakajima in the F1 support paddock. Jenson Button gave Honda a shot in the arm with eleventh but, with team-mate Rubens Barrichello back in 17th, the team will wait for further developments before knowing whether it can get its hopes up. The Briton did finish ahead of both Renaults, however - with Heikki Kovalainen quicker than Giancarlo Fisichella - and Ralf Schumacher's Toyota. Super Aguri were also slower than Button, with Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson taking 16th and 18th respectively, leaving Red Bull to fend off Spyker at the foot of the timesheets. The Silverstone team was clearly missing the data it could have gathered from the Sakhir test, Adrian Sutil lapping half a second off David Coulthard and 3.9secs from Raikkonen respectively.