Prac One: McLaren beat BMW at Indy

Friday 15th June 2007

McLaren had to fight off a challenge from BMW and not in the first free practice for the United States Grand Prix.

However, at the end of the hour and a half it was Fernando Alonso who had control of the session, clocking a 1:11.925 to beat Nick Heidfeld and Lewis Hamilton to the P1 slot.

Hamilton went to the top of the timesheets 30 minutes into the session and continued lapping, shaving tenths off his time with each tour of the track.

Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen put up the initial challenge, however, the duo were over two tenths off the pace. Raikkonen was also struggling to stay on the track, missing the apex at Turn Two and taking to the grass.

His team-mate Felipe Massa came out a few minutes later and closed the gap as he slotted his Ferrari into P2, just 0.044s off Hamilton's time.

However, all this was before the arrival of Fernando Alonso.

The reigning F1 Champion went straight to the top of the timesheets on his first timed lap with a 1:12.914.

Heidfeld was the first to rise to Alonso's challenge, pushing hard to take second place.

Perhaps pushing a bit too hard, though, as on the next lap the BMW driver took to the gravel and had to return to his garage to get his sidepods cleared of the stones.

Hamilton also took the bait and stormed out onto the track, taking P1 off his team-mate by a mere 0.004s.

However, Alonso fought back and returned to the P1 slot, taking six tenths off Hamilton's lap time.

Heidfeld improved to slot in between the two McLaren drivers. His new team-mate for the weekend, Sebastian Vettel, was another man on the move, taking third place off Hamilton.

The final ten minutes of the session saw a flurry of activity as the drivers took to the track for a last gasp effort at an improved time.

Nico Rosberg was the first man on the move, improving to sixth place, while Hamilton moved up one stop to third after setting the fastest first sector time of the session.

Heidfeld better his time but was unable to take the P1 slot off Alonso. The BMW driver fell 0.047s short of the mark.

However, Alonso, keen to assert his dominance, went on to clock a 1:11.925, setting the fastest second sector time of the session in the process.

David Coulthard improved to eighth place in the final seconds of the session at the expense of Honda's Jenson Button.

Meanwhile Adrian Sutil would have annoyed his team boss with his final lap mistake. The Spyker driver spun at the penultimate corner, putting his rear wheel onto the grass. As he tried to make his way out of the gravel he succeeded in getting stuck in the gravel. Not what the Spyker bosses would have wanted.

Times
01 F. Alonso McLaren 1:11.925 16 laps
02 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:12.391 24 laps
03 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:12.628 21 laps
04 S. Vettel BMW 1:12.869 33 laps
05 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari 1:12.966 21 laps
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:13.020 24 laps
07 F. Massa Ferrari 1:13.040 22 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:13.159 22 laps
09 J. Button Honda 1:13.597 23 laps
10 M. Webber Red Bull 1:13.682 26 laps
11 J. Trulli Toyota 1:13.777 32 laps
12 K. Nakajima Williams 1:13.786 27 laps
13 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:13.819 27 laps
14 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:13.907 28 laps
15 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:13.990 24 laps
16 G. Fisichella Renault 1:14.000 19 laps
17 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:14.037 20 laps
18 R. Barrichello Honda 1:14.052 23 laps
19 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:14.189 18 laps
20 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:14.632 10 laps
21 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:14.636 28 laps
22 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:14.810 27 laps