Hamilton tops first ever night practice

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By Matt Beer    Friday, September 26th 2008, 12:33 GMT

Lewis Hamilton at SingaporeLewis Hamilton emerged fastest for McLaren in the historic first practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, as Formula One cars took to the track under floodlights for the first time ever.

The Ferraris took second and third, with Felipe Massa just 0.080 seconds behind Hamilton and four tenths of a second ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Heikki Kovalainen completed the top four in the second McLaren, followed by BMW's Robert Kubica.

Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India) and Jenson Button (Honda) had the honour of being the first men to take to the track and the first to set a flying lap respectively, but it was Toyota's Timo Glock and Renault's Fernando Alonso who emerged as the early pace-setters after the opening runs.

The title contenders started cautiously and gradually built up speed, with Hamilton the first of them to hit the front when he lapped in 1:47.160 as the session passed its halfway point.

Alonso briefly got back ahead of Hamilton with his next flying lap, before the Ferraris each took a turn at the top with half an hour remaining.

Hamilton was still finding more time, though, as he edged back ahead of Raikkonen by 0.068 seconds then improved by a further tenth of a second later in his run.

Raikkonen threatened to beat Hamilton in the final two minutes, only to lose time in the final sector, while Hamilton then went quicker still on his last lap and produced a 1:45.518.

Massa then leapt to second, just 0.080 seconds adrift of the McLaren in the closing moments, as Raikkonen chose to abandon what looked like an even quicker final lap.

Behind Raikkonen and Kovalainen, Kubica earned fifth at the end of a spectacular session that included a high-flying trip over the Turn 10 kerbs by the Pole, who then caught a wild sideways slide as his BMW Sauber landed back on the asphalt.

Nico Rosberg was rapid throughout the session and ultimately put his Williams in sixth, ahead of Alonso, BMW's Nick Heidfeld, Nelson Piquet in the second Renault, and Jenson Button - who showed promising form for Honda to complete the top ten.

In this groundbreaking session, Mark Webber had the unhappy distinction of being the first man to crash at the Marina Bay circuit. The Australian carried too much speed into the left-hander headed into the tunnel under the main grandstand, putting his Red Bull-Renault into the barriers on only his fifth lap.

That left Webber at the bottom of the timesheets, and will give his Red Bull Racing team plenty to do in the shortened one-hour gap before second practice - the usual Friday schedule having been compressed for Singapore to ensure maximum after-dark mileage.

Rubens Barrichello also ended the session in the wall, spinning into the barriers at the last turn with 15 minutes to go, although his Honda escaped with relatively little damage.

He wasn't the only driver to get caught out by the final corner. Both Kovalainen and Toyota's Jarno Trulli spun at the same spot, but while Kovalainen quickly resumed, Trulli drove the wrong way down the circuit briefly then turned across the kerbs and into the pitlane, in a manoeuvre that might attract the stewards' attention.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:45.518            20
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:45.598  + 0.080   23
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:45.961  + 0.443   24
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:46.463  + 0.945   20
 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:46.618  + 1.100   23
 6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:46.710  + 1.192   25
 7.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:46.725  + 1.207   29
 8.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:46.964  + 1.446   24
 9.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:47.175  + 1.657   30
10.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:47.277  + 1.759   30
11.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:47.570  + 2.052   28
12.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:47.662  + 2.144   23
13.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:47.706  + 2.188   27
14.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:48.097  + 2.579   16
15.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:48.517  + 2.999   23
16.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:48.725  + 3.207   19
17.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:48.839  + 3.321   24
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:48.906  + 3.388   25
19.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:49.064  + 3.546   29
20.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:53.703  + 8.185    4

All Timing Unofficial

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Alonso quickest in second practice

By Matt Beer    Friday, September 26th 2008, 15:06 GMT

Fernando Alonso in SingaporeFernando Alonso sprung a surprise in second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, beating Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time in the closing seconds of the session.

The Renault driver outpaced the McLaren by 0.098 seconds, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen third and fourth, and Nico Rosberg impressing again for Williams in fifth.

Hamilton was quickest for the majority of the session, swiftly moving ahead of early pacesetter Rosberg and then chipping away at his time for the next hour and steadily edging further ahead.

Massa, who took a couple of detours down escape roads without damage, usurped the McLaren with 15 minutes remaining, with Hamilton's teammate Kovalainen then pushing the Briton down to third as he lapped just 0.004 seconds slower than Massa.

It didn't take long for Hamilton to respond, though, as he switched to the softer tyres for the last few minutes and lapped in 1:45.752, beating Massa by 0.041 seconds.

Until Alonso's late lap, it looked like Hamilton was set to remain on top. But the Renault produced a 1:45.654 just before the chequered flag, after a spectacular lap on the super-soft tyres.

However Hamilton's practice one benchmark of 1:45.518 would remain the fastest lap of the day - demonstrating how quickly the teams and drivers had got to grips with the circuit, and that the track had offered competitive conditions right from the outset rather than first practice being spent cleaning a dusty surface.

Behind the top four, Rosberg was on the pace throughout the session again and took fifth, ahead of BMW's Robert Kubica. Kimi Raikkonen only managed seventh in the second Ferrari, with Jenson Button also continuing his promising earlier form to take eighth for Honda.

The session was less eventful than opening practice, although Timo Glock lost his Toyota's front wing when he spun into the wall exiting Turn 7 right at the end.

There was also an eyebrow-raising moment at the first corner when Sebastien Bourdais exited the pitlane just as Nick Heidfeld committed to the first turn on a flying lap, causing the Toro Rosso to cut across the inside run-off and the BMW to take to the extra asphalt on the opposite side of the track.

The unusually short one-hour gap between first and second practice almost caught the organisers out, as the session start was delayed by two minutes while Paddock Club guests were cleared from the pitlane.

The unique schedule was also bad news for Mark Webber and Red Bull, denying the team much-needed time to repair the damage sustained in the Australian's earlier crash. Webber finally joined the track with 27 minutes to go, and after initially languishing at the foot of the times, he leapt up to 11th on his last lap.

Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella was also in trouble. The Italian was on the cusp of the top ten at first, only for a gearbox problem to sideline him for the second half of the session, leaving him 17th.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:45.654            30
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:45.752  + 0.098   28
 3.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:45.793  + 0.139   31
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:45.797  + 0.143   31
 5.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:46.164  + 0.510   34
 6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:46.384  + 0.730   36
 7.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:46.580  + 0.926   25
 8.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:46.901  + 1.247   32
 9.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:47.013  + 1.359   32
10.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:47.046  + 1.392   22
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:47.137  + 1.483   15
12.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:47.145  + 1.491   35
13.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:47.300  + 1.646   33
14.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:47.487  + 1.833   24
15.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:47.640  + 1.986   31
16.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:47.760  + 2.106   36
17.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:47.965  + 2.311   12
18.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:48.009  + 2.355   25
19.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:48.059  + 2.405   28
20.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:48.311  + 2.657   36

All Timing Unofficial

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Hamilton: Singapore harder than Monaco

By Pablo Elizalde    Friday, September 26th 2008, 17:19 GMT

Lewis Hamilton during practice in SingaporeLewis Hamilton says the Singapore circuit will be twice as demanding as Monte Carlo following Friday's practice sessions.

Like most drivers, Hamilton said the track was very bumpy, but he described it as an "amazing" circuit.

"Through certain corners there was lots of bottoming, and when you hit a bump it would throw the car around quite a bit - but it's an amazing venue," said Hamilton, who finished practice as second fastest.

"On my first proper run, I managed to find a half-decent line - but the car was still bottoming in places. I was able to get more comfortable with the car; on first impressions, there seems to be quite a lot of grip on the track, so you can brake quite late into the slower corners.

"It's a very physical circuit - more than I expected, actually. You need to put a lot of work into the car to get a good lap - I'd say it requires double the energy of Monaco over a single lap. One lap around here is like two laps of Monaco."

Teammate Heikki Kovalainen, fourth quickest today, admitted he was concerned about the pit entry.

"To be honest, racing under the lights wasn't really a problem," he said. "The track was quite bumpy. Perhaps we should also look at the pit entry - it could be quite difficult if a driver decides to pull into the pits at the last minute. However, everything else about the track is fine."