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Enthusiast Groups => Motorsports => Formula One => Topic started by: fasteddy on September 07, 2007, 09:38:08 AM
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By Matt Beer Friday, September 7th 2007, 09:30 GMT
Ferrari began their home Grand Prix weekend in the ideal fashion by taking a one-two in the first free practice session at Monza.
Kimi Raikkonen moved to the top of the timing screens with his first flying lap halfway through the 90 minutes, and remained at the head of the field for the rest of the morning.
His 1:22.446 lap was 0.144 seconds faster than teammate Felipe Massa's best effort.
McLaren had a more difficult morning, although by the end of the session third-placed Lewis Hamilton was just 0.028 seconds slower than Massa.
The championship leader had led the way briefly before Raikkonen emerged, and managed to stay within two tenths of the Ferraris for most of practice, although his penultimate run was interrupted by a spin at the first chicane.
Fernando Alonso missed much of the session after reporting a misfire on his installation laps. He finally joined the action in the final half hour, but took several trips across the new run-off at the Roggia chicane and also had a spin at the same place.
After lapping seven tenths of a second off the pace initially, Alonso ultimately improved to within 0.394 seconds of Raikkonen with his last lap.
Williams' Nico Rosberg was the fastest driver outside the Ferrari/McLaren quartet once again, but was a second off the pace in fifth place.
Jenson Button showed good form for Honda as he completed the top six, with teammate Rubens Barrichello jumping to 12th late on having languished in the bottom three for much of the morning.
Giancarlo Fisichella took seventh for Renault, with the BMWs eighth and ninth ahead of early pacesetter Jarno Trulli's Toyota.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:22.446 20
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:22.590 + 0.144 17
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:22.618 + 0.172 18
4. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:22.840 + 0.394 12
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:23.472 + 1.026 21
6. Button Honda (B) 1:23.668 + 1.222 21
7. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:23.671 + 1.225 22
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:23.703 + 1.257 22
9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:23.886 + 1.440 17
10. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:23.965 + 1.519 29
11. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:24.076 + 1.630 21
12. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:24.564 + 2.118 19
13. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:24.587 + 2.141 15
14. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:24.595 + 2.149 22
15. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:24.660 + 2.214 20
16. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:24.689 + 2.243 29
17. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:24.694 + 2.248 17
18. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:24.810 + 2.364 19
19. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:25.130 + 2.684 24
20. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:25.439 + 2.993 25
21. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:25.448 + 3.002 25
22. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:25.762 + 3.316 25
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McLaren pair on top in practice 2 - Italy
By Matt Beer Friday, September 7th 2007, 13:31 GMT
Fernando Alonso dominated the Friday afternoon practice session at Monza, lapping eight tenths of a second clear of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Having missed much of the morning courtesy of a misfire, the McLaren driver took to the track early in the second session and soon established himself at the end of the times.
A mid-session run on soft tyres saw Alonso produce the 1:22.386 that would stand as the day's fastest lap, and even when the rest of the field switched to softs for the final runs, the world champion's 0.823 second advantage remained intact.
After their commanding morning performance, Ferrari had a less successful afternoon.
Felipe Massa could only manage sixth, 1.3 seconds off the pace and a second shy of his first session times. The Brazilian also had a spin at the Roggia chicane, with Alonso having to take to the revised run-off to avoid him.
Kimi Raikkonen was only eighth quickest, having been forced to sit out most of the session when he struck hydraulic problems after just five laps. He rejoined to complete a further seven laps right at the end of the 90 minutes.
Ferrari's problems allowed Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella to take third, despite some worrying clouds of black smoke from his brakes during the afternoon - a trait not seen to the same extent on any other car.
Robert Kubica was fourth fastest for BMW, ahead of Nico Rosberg's Williams, with Nick Heidfeld splitting the Ferraris in seventh in the second BMW.
Heikki Kovalainen and Alex Wurz completed the top ten.
Aside from a plethora of minor trips across the chicanes, the only notable incident of the session was the red flag to retrieve Anthony Davidson's Super Aguri.
The Briton had come to a halt on the grass between the Lesmos, and with the marshals unable to retrieve the car safely, the session had to be halted for nine minutes.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:22.386 30
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:23.209 + 0.823 33
3. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:23.584 + 1.198 38
4. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:23.599 + 1.213 44
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:23.679 + 1.293 33
6. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:23.722 + 1.336 27
7. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:23.821 + 1.435 38
8. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:23.833 + 1.447 12
9. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:23.848 + 1.462 32
10. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:23.881 + 1.495 32
11. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:23.919 + 1.533 39
12. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:23.922 + 1.536 29
13. Button Honda (B) 1:24.137 + 1.751 36
14. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:24.328 + 1.942 31
15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:24.462 + 2.076 40
16. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:24.605 + 2.219 31
17. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:25.328 + 2.942 27
18. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:25.459 + 3.073 36
19. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:25.531 + 3.145 24
20. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:25.567 + 3.181 26
21. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:25.863 + 3.477 40
22. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:26.021 + 3.635 6
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Hamilton determined to defeat Ferrari
By Alan Baldwin Friday, September 7th 2007, 08:17 GMT
Lewis Hamilton says McLaren with do their utmost to beat Ferrari in the Italian team's home race this weekend as the perfect riposte to allegations of spying against the Formula One leaders.
"Beating Ferrari on their home ground has got to be a huge blow to their whole team and that would make the (McLaren) team extremely happy," the 22-year-old championship frontrunner told British reporters at Monza.
"For me it would be a great feeling to do that because of what they are putting (our) team through.
"I know my team, I know the people here and I think we are being unfairly treated. We'll do our talking on the track," added the Briton.
Hamilton leads double world champion teammate Fernando Alonso by five points with five races remaining.
Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa is third, 10 points behind Spaniard Alonso, with Kimi Raikkonen a further point adrift.
Ferrari won the previous Turkish Grand Prix, with Massa leading Raikkonen in a one-two finish, and have been triumphant four times in the last five years at Monza.
They are now just 11 points behind McLaren in the constructors' championship.
McLaren are due to appear before the world governing body in Paris on Thursday in a hearing that could wreck their championship hopes if new evidence shows they benefited from Ferrari technical information in the possession of suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan earlier in the season.
The team have denied incorporating any Ferrari data on their car and escaped sanction in July when the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) ruled there was insufficient evidence.
However, the FIA World Motor Sport Council warned then that the team could be kicked out of this and next year's championship if new evidence emerged against them.
The FIA said on Wednesday there was new evidence and the Monza paddock has been swept by speculation about the nature and source of it.
While some media reports have referred to alleged emails between Alonso and McLaren's Spanish test driver Pedro de la Rosa, the champion told Spanish state radio on Thursday that McLaren had nothing to fear.
"If they penalise the team, they penalise me. I'm part of the team and we share the problem," he said.
"We're here to win... we're leading and there's not a single person in the team who thinks they're going to penalise us or that anything is going to happen to us."
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Hamilton seeking more speed
By Jonathan Noble Friday, September 7th 2007, 14:30 GMT
Lewis Hamilton says McLaren are going to keep pushing to find even more speed from their car despite being quickest in the first day of practice at the Italian Grand Prix.
World champion Fernando Alonso edged out Hamilton at the end of the first day of action in Monza, but the team are not taking the threat of their rivals lightly.
Hamilton said: "We went through our usual set-up and Bridgestone Potenza tyre comparison work and now have a good understanding of our competitiveness this weekend.
"The car feels really good to drive round here, and we have already made some good steps forward today. However you never know what everyone else is doing, so we will be looking for further improvements before qualifying tomorrow."
Alonso added: "Today went really well. We had a good idea of our performance from the test last week, and although the conditions have changed slightly since then, we were able to get an understanding of the set-up for the race, and I am happy with how the car felt.
"I missed a little time in the morning session when the team were fixing a small problem with my steering, but it didn't really make too much difference to our overall results."