Malaysian Grand Prix – Sepang, 21st March 2008
Free practice – First session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Chassis
F. Massa 1st 1.35.392 20 267
K. Raikkonen 2nd 1.36.459 8 268
Weather: air temperature 31 °C, track temperature 38/43
°C, sunny.
Free Practice – Second session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Chassis
F. Massa 2nd 1.35.206 33 267
K. Raikkonen 3rd 1.35.428 36 268
Weather: air 34/32 °C, track 51/43 °C, sunny then
cloudy.
Over the two free practice sessions for the Malaysian Grand
Prix, the two F2008 of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa completed
around one hundred laps. The day’s technical programme,
as usual for a Friday, centred on finding the best set up
on the car and a comparison of the two types of tyre brought
to the track by Bridgestone. Despite losing a bit of time
in the morning session because of a misunderstanding between
the pit wall and the garage left Kimi stranded on the track
with no fuel, the programme was completed with almost no technical
problems. “The start of this weekend is reasonably positive,”
commented Stefano Domenicali. “Kimi and Felipe reckoned
they were happy with the way the cars went, both over a single
lap and on a longer run, with both types of tyre. From what
we have seen and considering all the usual Friday unknown
quantities, I think we will be competitive in qualifying and
in the race.”
Felipe Massa: “I am very happy with
these two sessions. The car proved to be very quick and consistent
on both types of tyre. It’s a shame I was unable to
get the most out of the second set of soft tyres, when I found
myself behind Hamilton who was going slowly. We are working
in the right direction for qualifying and the race.”
Kimi Raikkonen “This morning I lost
time because of a communication problem within the team, but
we made up for it in the second session. The car seems to
be going well and I am pleased with the work we have done.
I worked mainly on the harder tyres, but I think that even
with the softs, from what we have seen, we can be competitive.
It is always difficult to say where we are compared to our
rivals, but I think we can face the rest of the weekend with
confidence.”
Luca Baldisserri: “This morning we
got our lines of communication mixed up between the garage
and the pit wall, which left Kimi stuck out on the track without
fuel, but in the afternoon, we were able to get more done,
without any technical problems whatsoever. Both drivers found
good settings on their cars and we got a lot of data on the
behaviour of the two types of tyre. Now we must prepare very
carefully for qualifying, because we know how important it
is to start from the front. All in all, we are satisfied with
the way the first day has gone here in Sepang.”
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