Australian Grand Prix – Melbourne, 14th March 2008
Free practice – First session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Chassis
K. Raikkonen 1st 1.26.461 25 268
F. Massa 3rd 1.26.958 25 267
Weather: air temperature 31/35 °C, track temperature 33/38
°C, sunny.
Free Practice – Second session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Chassis
F. Massa 3rd 1.27.640 29 267
K. Raikkonen 6th 1.28.208 28 268
Weather: air temperature 38/40 °C, track temperature 41/43
°C, sunny.
The Australian Grand Prix, the first round of this year’s
Formula 1 World Championship, got underway with the two ninety
minute free practice sessions. As usual, Friday’s work
centred on finding the best set-up on the car and a comparison
of the two types of tyre that Bridgestone supplied to the
team. “The start of a new season is always a special
feeling,” commented Stefano Domenicali. “From
a personal point of view, I cannot deny that this is a special
day, my first on the pit wall as the head of the Gestione
Sportiva. We are not entirely satisfied with the way practice
went and we still have to work on finding the right balance
on the car, both for qualifying tomorrow and for Sunday’s
race.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “I am not very happy
with the way practice went. This morning we found some good
settings for the car, but in the afternoon, we struggled and
our lap times reflect that. We must look carefully at the
data to work out how to improve the car. We have seen that
if we manage to find the right set-up, we have the potential
to be competitive.”
Felipe Massa “All in all, I am happy
with this start to the season. We were able to work towards
the race and I think I will be able to run at a good pace
on a long run. Because of going off the track, I was unable
to try the last set of soft tyres available to me, but that’s
certainly not a big problem. The harder tyres are very consistent,
while the other compound gives more grip on the first lap,
but then suffers from greater degradation.”
Luca Baldisserri: “A bit of a complicated
day, especially in the second session. The set- up of Kimi’s
F2008 in the afternoon was certainly not the best and we need
to work out exactly why. As for Felipe, he was pretty happy
with the handling of his car. At the end, the Brazilian had
an off-track excursion which meant he was forced to end his
work programme a bit prematurely and it bore testimony to
the fact that, this year, the margin for error is virtually
nonexistent. Now we must prepare as well as possible for qualifying
and the race. The weather conditions are very difficult and
will provide a stern test of the cars’s reliability.”
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