Prac One: More reliability woes for Ferrari

Friday 21st March 2008

Ferrari's F2008 may have been the quickest car at Sepang on Friday morning but it was also one of the more unreliable as Kimi Raikkonen once again found himself sitting on the sidelines while the action went on without him.

Shortly after moving to the top of the timesheets, the Finn came to a halt out on track with an apparent mechanical problem. It was another disappointing and worrying outcome for Raikkonen and left it open for his team-mate Felipe Massa to take the top honours in the session.

Raikkonen did however finish second with Heikki Kovalainen in third place.

Report: Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil were the first drivers out on track, although they were soon joined by a train of 14 others all putting in their installation lap. After ten minutes only the Ferrari drivers had yet to take to the circuit.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais was the first to complete a timed lap, clocking a 1:43.367 as the air humidity reached an uncomfortable 77% and the track temperature rose to 42'C.

The Frenchman continued lapping taking valuable seconds off his time before being joined by his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who moved to the top of the timesheets with Toyota's Timo Glock going P3.

Jarno Trulli was the next out on track, taking P2 behind his team-mate who improved to the top of the timesheets. Nico Rosberg went P5 on his first timed lap.

Trulli swapped places with Glock while Rosberg moved to third place ahead of Nelson Piquet Jr.

However, once Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen were out on track the order changed as the duo immediately went fastest with Hamilton 0.038s ahead of his rival.

Felipe Massa went P4 on his first lap, slotting in behind Trulli and ahead of Glock. Raikkonen leapt ahead Hamilton to take the P1 slot with a 1:36.459 while Massa moved to second place and Heikki Kovalainen went P3 ahead of his team-mate.

Jenson Button improved to ninth place but lost out to David Coulthard moments before Adrian Sutil who brought out the yellow flags when he came to a halt in sector two with smoke coming from the rear of his car.

The Force India driver seemed to set-off a chain of problems with both Coulthard and Raikkonen falling by the wayside a few minutes later.

The duo brought out the red flags when Coulthard ran wide through Turn 12, and tried to rejoin at Turn 13, only for his Red Bull's front suspension to break when it hit the inside kerbs, sending the car ploughing into the gravel.

Seconds later the marshals were also called to assist Raikkonen as his Ferrari came to a stop with apparent technical problems.

The session resumed nine minutes later with four drivers, Kubica, Davidson, Sato and Nakajima yet to set lap times.

With 30 minutes remaining Sato set a time, going second from last with only the stricken Sutil slower. Davidson followed suit, however, he did so slowest.

At the top of the timesheets Raikkonen continued to hold onto the P1 slot despite sitting on the sidelines while his rivals put in their laps.

Mark Webber's morning came to a premature end when his Red Bull's engine failured forcing him to pull into the support pits with smoke billowing from the rear of his car.

Fernando Alonso leapt up the order to fifth place, 0.8s off the pace. Heidfeld improved to P7, slotting in between the Toyotas while Piquet Jr was up to ninth.

Massa takes P1 off Raikkonen while Hamilton goes third fastest ahead of his own team-mate only to lose out a lap later to Kovalainenn.

Rubens Barrichello breaks into the top ten only to be booted out by Button who went P9 while Piquet Jr improved to sixth place behind Alonso.

Massa continued to put space between himself and Raikkonen, extending his lead to 0.715s at the top of the leaderboard.

With seven minutes remaining Kubica once again tried to complete a lap having spent most of the morning in his BMW garage while his mechanics worked on his car. The Polish driver finally succeeding, going P9 on his first timed lap with a 1:37.633.

At the other end of the timesheets Massa continued to assert himself, increasing his lead to over a second. Rosberg moved up to fourth place, slotting in between the two McLarens.

Times
01 F. Massa Ferrari 1:35.392 20 laps
02 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari 1:36.459 8 laps
03 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:36.556 21 laps
04 N. Rosberg Williams 1:36.578 23 laps
05 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:36.626 17 laps
06 F. Alonso Renault 1:37.022 18 laps
07 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:37.034 28 laps
08 R. Kubica BMW 1:37.218 9 laps
09 J. Button Honda 1:37.282 17 laps
10 J. Trulli Toyota 1:37.540 24 laps
11 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:37.649 17 laps
12 K. Nakajima Williams 1:37.649 18 laps
13 R. Barrichello Honda 1:37.076 20 laps
14 T. Glock Toyota 1:37.782 27 laps
15 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:38.219 26 laps
16 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:38.232 7 laps
17 M. Webber Red Bull 1:38.707 12 laps
18 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:38.798 25 laps
19 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:39.046 21 laps
20 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:40.178 1 laps
21 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:40.351 14 laps
22 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:41.269 5 laps