F1 - Saturday Practice - Kovalainen fastest in rain, then hits barrier
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F1 - Saturday Practice - Kovalainen fastest in rain, then hits barrier
by Ross Sat May 24, 2008 1:58 pm
Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest time in final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday morning, then promptly spun and hit the barriers.
The Finn, who had just eclipsed the time of team-mate Lewis Hamilton with 25 minutes of the session gone and drizzle fall lightly on the track, lost control of the McLaren on the exit of the swimming pool, damaging the rear of the car.
The hour-long session was then stopped, apparently to clear debris from the Finn's shunt.
The five minute break was sufficient to allow the track to get properly damp again, having dried through the morning, and thus locked Kovalainen's 1:16.567 lap to the top of the timesheets.
Up until that point the session had been frantic, with seemingly the entire field - with the exception of David Coulthard - venturing trackside before the predicted rain stole what was left of the precious dry track time.
The first ten minutes of the session saw Ferrari's Felipe Massa seize the moment as he banged in a succession of flying laps as he gradually lowered the mark to 1:17.691, which convinced the pace-setters from Friday, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, to venture out.
Raikkonen quickly established himself at the top of the times, but once Hamilton found himself space on the busying track – he swiftly remedied that. Until Kovalainen emerged from the pits...
Nico Rosberg continued to show the Williams team's strong Monaco form with the fourth fastest time, and the German was also impressively fast in the second, more slippery half of the session.
Robert Kubica's BMW was fifth, ahead of Massa – who eventually dropped to sixth.
Mark Webber – always quick at Monaco – was seventh just in front of Adrian Sutil, who once again shone in the tricky Saturday morning conditions that allowed his stock to rise so spectacularly this time a year ago.
Kazuki Nakajima and Jenson Button filled out the top ten, while Sebastien Bourdais was an impressive 11th.
It's also worth mentioning that Button once again proved super quick in the intermediate conditions, his Honda lapping more than a second faster than anyone else could manage when the circuit was at its wettest.
Eventually though the track began to dry and the times tumbled and in the final moments, Kubica's BMW broke the beam at 1:26.459, followed by the Ferraris of Raikkonen (1:27.077) and Massa (1:27.325).
Unofficial times from Saturday Monaco practice:
1. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m16.567s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m17.084s
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m17.177s
4. ROSBERG Williams 1m17.503s
5. KUBICA BMW 1m17.687s
6. MASSA Ferrari 1m17.691s
7. WEBBER Red Bull 1m17.856s
8. SUTIL Force India 1m17.883s
9. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m18.147s
10. BUTTON Honda 1m18.225s
11. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m18.367s
12. GLOCK Toyota 1m18.424s
13. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m18.455s
14. PIQUET Renault 1m18.615s
15. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m18.651s
16. ALONSO Renault 1m18.795s
17. TRULLI Toyota 1m18.858s
18. HEIDFELD BMW 1m19.024s
19. FISICHELLA Force India 1m19.131s
20. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m20.805s
autosport.com
The Finn, who had just eclipsed the time of team-mate Lewis Hamilton with 25 minutes of the session gone and drizzle fall lightly on the track, lost control of the McLaren on the exit of the swimming pool, damaging the rear of the car.
The hour-long session was then stopped, apparently to clear debris from the Finn's shunt.
The five minute break was sufficient to allow the track to get properly damp again, having dried through the morning, and thus locked Kovalainen's 1:16.567 lap to the top of the timesheets.
Up until that point the session had been frantic, with seemingly the entire field - with the exception of David Coulthard - venturing trackside before the predicted rain stole what was left of the precious dry track time.
The first ten minutes of the session saw Ferrari's Felipe Massa seize the moment as he banged in a succession of flying laps as he gradually lowered the mark to 1:17.691, which convinced the pace-setters from Friday, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, to venture out.
Raikkonen quickly established himself at the top of the times, but once Hamilton found himself space on the busying track – he swiftly remedied that. Until Kovalainen emerged from the pits...
Nico Rosberg continued to show the Williams team's strong Monaco form with the fourth fastest time, and the German was also impressively fast in the second, more slippery half of the session.
Robert Kubica's BMW was fifth, ahead of Massa – who eventually dropped to sixth.
Mark Webber – always quick at Monaco – was seventh just in front of Adrian Sutil, who once again shone in the tricky Saturday morning conditions that allowed his stock to rise so spectacularly this time a year ago.
Kazuki Nakajima and Jenson Button filled out the top ten, while Sebastien Bourdais was an impressive 11th.
It's also worth mentioning that Button once again proved super quick in the intermediate conditions, his Honda lapping more than a second faster than anyone else could manage when the circuit was at its wettest.
Eventually though the track began to dry and the times tumbled and in the final moments, Kubica's BMW broke the beam at 1:26.459, followed by the Ferraris of Raikkonen (1:27.077) and Massa (1:27.325).
Unofficial times from Saturday Monaco practice:
1. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m16.567s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m17.084s
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m17.177s
4. ROSBERG Williams 1m17.503s
5. KUBICA BMW 1m17.687s
6. MASSA Ferrari 1m17.691s
7. WEBBER Red Bull 1m17.856s
8. SUTIL Force India 1m17.883s
9. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m18.147s
10. BUTTON Honda 1m18.225s
11. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m18.367s
12. GLOCK Toyota 1m18.424s
13. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m18.455s
14. PIQUET Renault 1m18.615s
15. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m18.651s
16. ALONSO Renault 1m18.795s
17. TRULLI Toyota 1m18.858s
18. HEIDFELD BMW 1m19.024s
19. FISICHELLA Force India 1m19.131s
20. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m20.805s
autosport.com
Ross- Admin
- Number of posts : 121
Registration date : 2008-02-23 -
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