Australian Grand Prix practice session
Posted by Jamie Hibbard at 9:30AM on Friday 14 March, 2008 5 Comments
Before we get into this, I need to say that Lewis coming around the last corner all hanging out and sideways was awesome. More of that please Mr Hamilton. Let's hope this is a sign of things to come sans-traction control.
So after a long winter of discontent the Formula One season is finally upon us and we've already had some action, from the first practice session of the Melbourne Grand Prix. I'm going to do a quick run-through of the things that matter, and then it's up to you lot to tell me I'm right/wrong/mental.
In the morning, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen topped the time sheet with both Lewis and Felipe Massa on the same second as him, yet in the afternoon Lewis was the only one to post a 1min 26, closely followed by Red Bull's Mark Webber, Massa and McLaren's 'other driver' Heikki Kovalainen all in the 1min 27 bracket.
So Heikki's quick. Quick enough to be pushing, if not challenging, Lewis at the front of the field. This is good, and I think theirs' will be a relationship much more of friendly rivalry - rather than Lewis and Alonso's partnership of niggled annoyance - pushing each other to bigger and better things. Heikki had a bad time of it in Melbourne last year - not least from team boss Flav - so will be looking to capitalise on his fortuitous position at McLaren.
Secondly, it's great to see that the Red Bulls are looking strong. Even David Coulthard posted fifth in the afternoon, shortly before his car stopped working out on track, so they're on the pace, as long as reliability issues don't become a problem during the race. Local boy Webber has always talked the talk, and if ever there was a time to prove it, his home race would be it.
Most shockingly from this initial gloves-off running is that Jenson is doing good stuff with the Honda, posting a time for 11th place in both session. They didn't look too hot during the winter, but his car seems to have more pace than they were showing. Definitely a contender for pre-season sandbagging. Two-time world champ Fernando Alonso does indeed seem to be leading Renault on a resurgence, getting a sixth spot in the morning, even though the afternoon left him down in unlucky 13th thanks to a spin. That aside, he's going to be determined to show this season that he can turnaround a team that had lost faith in itself last year, even though his current car's a couple of seconds off the pace of Kimi's fastest time.
The shocker of the morning was that Williams were at the back of the pack, with Nakajima in 21st and Rosberg not even posting a time due to gearbox problems., In the afternoon he got up to 8th spot, which is much more like the form they were showing in winter testing.
Nelson Piquet JR caused the first red flag of the season when he span and stalled out on track, although it was Massa who was responsible for the most spectacular off at turn 12 in session 2. A sign of what's going to happen to him with no Traction Control? Only time will tell (although I suspect this to be the case).
However a lot of drivers had offs, including such experienced drivers as Jarno Trulli, so everyone's going through the practice sessions finding the edges.
Just to be a bit Brit tabloid for a minute, how good is it going to be when Lewis and Alonso meet out on track this year? I know that in the first press conference they both played down the rivalry that existed last year - they would wouldn't they? - but when they're wheel banging out on track at points this season I can't see either of them giving the other any quarter. This is the case for most drivers out there anyway who aren't on the same team, but I can't help but think that these two ill be even more determined to show the other a clean pair of heels.
The biggest thing that I got from practice though was confirmation, if any was needed, that I'm super excited for qualifying.
How about you?
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5 Comments for "Australian Grand Prix practice session"
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It'll be a killer season this with a full lot of drama!
I can't wait till the race. Hamilton is going to do it this year and Heikki is going to push him harder.
Come on Lewis!
It feels like it's been forever since the '07 season ended and what a season it was. This year should be just as good with the first ever night race, no traction control and of course the Hamilton/other guy thingy going on. Just a few hours from qualifying and then we're off. My pick for this year will be Lewis of course but watch out for Vettel and Webber too. Hopefully they won't hit each other, then cry about it.
Hell, I'm excited! Did a bunch of laps of Melbourne on rFactor this morning and managed a tight second in a race against some English bloke after running out of fuel on the last corner, checking the news sites every couple of hours, reading this article (!), re-reading the excellent Top Gear season preview (ahem...) and generally going nuts! Thank God Schumacher has gone, F1 is interesting again.
Lewis is the best driver in the Championship by a long way. Just because we are British and nothing ever goes right for us we don't want to get too carried away. But this year is his and as it stands, there will be many more like it.