Prac One: Hamilton & Massa resume battle

Friday 10th October 2008

Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa resumed their title battle in Japan on Friday morning when the McLaren driver outpaced the Ferrari man in Practice One.

Hamilton clocked a 1:18.910 to beat Massa by 0.153s while their team-mates Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen slotted in behind.

Reports: With the track temperature sitting at 29 Celsius and the air hitting 22c in bright morning sunshine, Giancarlo Fisichella, Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld started the day's proceedings heading out for their installation laps with everyone barring the Ferraris completing them in the first ten minutes.

Timo Glock soon headed out for the first timed lap of the morning, a 1:22.937, which he promptly lowered on the next lap when he was joined by team-mate Jarno Trulli, who posted a 1:22.404. Seb Bourdais joined the action as the two Toyotas dropped into the 1:21s.

Glock clocked a 1:20.8 before being overhauled by Nelson Piquet Jr, who went three tenths quicker. However, they were dethroned by the arrival of Kimi Raikkonen with the Ferrari driver posting a 1:19.522 after setting three fastest sector times.

A flurry of activity saw all but seven drivers out on track with Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen slotting in behind Raikkonen on the timesheets. Hamilton's second lap had him ahead of Raikkonen but only briefly as the reigning Champ retook the P1 slot on his next lap.

Fernando Alonso went P3 ahead of Kovalainen, Piquet and Bourdais, while Glock, Rubens Barrichello and Robert Kubica completed the top ten at the halfway mark.

Felipe Massa improved from 19th place to fourth with Seb Vettel following him up the timesheets. A fastest third sector time saw Massa move up one place to third, only to then take second place off Hamilton.

Kubica improved to fifth place while Adrian Sutil put his Force India into the top ten. In sharp contrast his team-mate Fisichella was at the back of the pack in 20th place, just ahead of the two Williams.

Hamilton finally overhauled the Ferraris with half an hour on the clock, the McLaren driver posting a 1:19.062. His team-mate Kovalainen followed him up in the timesheets, going third quickest.

Piquet moved up to slot in behind his Renault team-mate while Fisichella moved away from the bottom of the timesheets, leaving Japanese driver Nakajima down in P20. Nico Rosberg went P11, slotting in ahead of Webber and Heidfeld.

The last ten minutes saw a flurry of activity with drivers putting in banker laps. Hamilton improved his benchmark time to a 1:18.910, finishing the session ahead of Massa, Kovalainen and Raikkonen.

Times
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:18.910 23 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:19.063 24 laps
03 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:19.279 20 laps
04 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:19.399 31 laps
05 F. Alonso Renault 1:19.473 30 laps
06 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:19.743 35 laps
07 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.121 30 laps
08 R. Kubica BMW 1:20.160 26 laps
09 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.182 34 laps
10 K. Nakajima Williams 1:20.217 25 laps
11 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:20.288 26 laps
12 N. Rosberg Williams 1:20.350 28 laps
13 M. Webber Red Bull 1:20.620 24 laps
14 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:20.628 23 laps
15 J. Trulli Toyota 1:20.657 33 laps
16 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.753 32 laps
17 J. Button Honda 1:20.769 27 laps
18 T. Glock Toyota 1:20.823 37 laps
19 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:20.905 24 laps
20 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:21.014 28 laps

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