Turkish Grand Prix – Istanbul, 9th May 2008
Free practice – First session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Chassis
F. Massa 1st 1.27.323 16 267
K. Raikkonen 20th 1.30.732 3 270
Weather: air temperature 15/17 °C, track temperature
22/25 °C, covered skies.
Free Practice – Second session
Driver Pos. Time Laps Chassis
K. Raikkonen 1st 1.27.543 30 270
F. Massa 3rd 1.27.682 29 267
Weather: air temperature 14/16 °C, track temperature
17/18 °C, covered skies.
Something of an up and down day for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro,
in the first two free practice sessions for the Turkish Grand
Prix, here at Istanbul Park. Felipe Massa was fastest in the
morning, with Kimi Raikkonen topping the afternoon time sheet.
However, the reigning world champion had to sit out practically
all the morning session because of a gearbox problem. “For
the umpteenth time today we learnt, if indeed we needed to
learn it, that it only takes the slightest little hitch to
lose valuable time,” commented the Team Principal of
the Gestione Sportiva, Stefano Domenicali. “From what
we saw on track, it is very close between us and our main
competitors. From our side, we need to work very carefully
to find the right settings for both cars and to be in the
best possible shape for qualifying and, above all, for the
race.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “Not the best of Fridays.
This morning, I only managed one timed lap before a gearbox
problem meant I could not go out for the rest of the session.
In the afternoon, I struggled a bit to find the right settings
on the car. One of the main problems today was getting the
tyres up to the correct temperature, but I think that tomorrow,
partly as the grip level on the track improves and partly
as we work to improve the set-up, it will be a different situation.
We lost valuable time this morning, but we still have enough
data to analyse so that we can be ready to tackle the rest
of the weekend.”
Felipe Massa: “Overall, this was a
positive day. The track is very fast, even if it’s still
a bit dirty, which meant it was quite easy to make mistakes.
The low temperatures mean it is difficult to get the most
out of the tyres on a first timed lap, especially on the harder
ones. We tried various settings and now we need to look at
the data from everything we have done over these three hours,
to be as well prepared as possible. I feel comfortable on
this track and I think I can be very competitive tomorrow
and on Sunday in the race: it would be fantastic to win again
here, after having done it for the past two years.”
Luca Baldisserri: “This Friday’s
free practice did not go entirely to plan. This morning we
had a gearbox problem on Kimi’s car which meant he was
stuck in the pits for most of the first session. Felipe managed
to get through his planned programme and is reasonably satisfied
with the handling of his car, while Kimi is less so. As usual
for a Friday, we worked on finding the best set- up on the
car and on a comparison of the two types of Bridgestone tyre
available to us. Now we have to study all the data we have
gathered to understand how to improve the performance on both
cars.”
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