Planet-F1

Prac Three: Another session goes to McLaren

Saturday 19th July 2008

McLaren have the upper hand over Ferrari going into Saturday's qualifying having once set the pace in the morning's practice hour.

Although it appeared as if Felipe Massa had the pace to hand Ferrari their first session win of the German GP weekend, the Brazilian lost out to Heikki Kovalainen in the final few minutes by 0.072 seconds.

Lewis Hamilton was third quickest.

Report: A dry track greeted the drivers when they went out for their installation laps at Hockenheim, however, it wasn't until ten minutes later that the first laps times were set with Sebastien Bourdais and Jenson Button heading the timesheets in the early 1:17s.

Lewis Hamilton went P1 on his first flying lap with a 1:16.484 only to lose it moments later to Sebastian Vettel. Felipe Massa took third place on his first attempt, joining Vettel and Hamilton in the 1:16s.

Heikki Kovalainen hit the front of the pack with his 1:16.219, while fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen went fifth with Nico Rosberg completing the top six before he was dropped by Nelson Piquet Jr and then David Coulthard.

Piquet Jr moved up to third place, slotting in ahead of Hamilton as Coulthard went P5 behind the McLaren driver.

Massa clocked the fastest second sector time on his way to second place, just 0.064s behind Kovalainen. However, he was soon dropped by Hamilton, who went just 0.008s slower than his team-mate.

Kovalainen put in fastest sector times to improved to a 1:15.858, putting distance between himself and the chasing pack. The Finn, though, was overhauled by Massa, who bettered his time by 0.165s to take teh P1 slot.

Problems for Robert Kubica, who was left touring slowly around the circuit, telling his team that whenever he puts on the power the car pulls badly to the side.

The final ten minutes of the session saw the majority of the field opt for the softer compound tyres. Hamilton was the first of the front runners to use the rubber, leapfrogging his team-mate for second place.

However, Kovalainen came back to take the lead away from Massa while Fernando Alonso improved to fourth place. Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber also made late moves to finish in the top eight.

Times
01 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:15.621 18 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.693 21 laps
03 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.839 21 laps
04 F. Alonso Renault 1:15.943 18 laps
05 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.037 24 laps
06 J. Trulli Toyota 1:16.133 25 laps
07 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:16.161 21 laps
08 M. Webber Red Bull 1:16.196 19 laps
09 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.380 19 laps
10 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.405 20 laps
11 J. Button Honda 1:16.447 22 laps
12 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:16.515 19 laps
13 K. Nakajima Williams 1:16.530 18 laps
14 T. Glock Toyota 1:16.636 27 laps
15 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.808 23 laps
16 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.906 24 laps
17 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:16.938 20 laps
18 R. Barrichello Honda 1:17.189 20 laps
19 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:17.312 22 laps
20 R. Kubica BMW 1:17.469 15 laps