2008 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX FREE PRACTICE
Lewis Hamilton, MP4-23 04
Heikki Kovalainen, MP4-23 03
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team finished today’s
second practice session in 3rd and 4th places. Heikki set
a time of 1:32.752 whilst Lewis did 1:32.847. There was a
bit of drama towards the end of second practice when Lewis
touched a kerb and lost control of the car and went into the
barrier. Lewis was OK but had to attend a precautionary check
at the Medical Centre. In the first session Lewis’ time
of 1:32.705 put him 4th whilst Heikki did 1:32.868 and finished
in 5th. Lewis completed 21 and 26 laps whilst Heikki did 20
and 30.
Practice Session One:
Lewis Heikki:
10.05: out / in 10.01: out / in
10.34: 6 laps, best 1:32.705 (4th) 10.33: 6 laps, best 1:32.868
(5th)
10.54: 4 laps, best 1:33.621 10.55: 6 laps, best 1:33.235
11.10: 11 laps, best 1:33.454 11.19: 7 laps, best 1:33.723
Practice Session Two:
Lewis: Heikki:
14.16: 7 laps best 1:32.849 14.03: 4 laps, best 1:35.454
14.40: 12 laps, best 1:33.557 14.24: 6 laps, best 1:33.706
15.11: 7 laps, best 1:32.847 (4th) 14.48: 10 laps, best 1:33.645
15.16: 10 laps, best 1:32.752 (3rd)
LEWIS HAMILTON
"It was a shame that I ended what had been a productive
day going off the circuit and hitting the barriers at Turn
Seven. I was just pushing and sometimes these things happen.
I am absolutely fine, and hopefully the damage to the car
is not too bad. We would have had to change our engine and
gearbox anyway so hopefully I am not going to be too unpopular
with the boys in the garage. In the first session we stayed
on the same set of tyres throughout. I flatspotted one of
them early on but, as it was only Practice One, we chose to
save a set of tyres, however we monitored the vibrations closely
to make sure that they didn’t cause any damage to the
car. The circuit was obviously very dirty and continued to
evolve throughout both sessions."
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
"As this track is very hard on brakes this was the focus
in the first session - just making sure we got as much data
as possible and that everything was working well. The track
was very dirty and there was hardly any grip to begin with
so we decided there was no point in using more than one set
of prime tyres. In the second session we could turn our attention
to general set-up work and tyre evaluation. We ran both the
option and the prime and there is not that much difference.
I am comfortable in the car and looking forward to the rest
of the weekend."
RON DENNIS
"Apart from Lewis’s off towards the end of the
second session, a good start to our Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.
The track continued to improve throughout both sessions and
we gathered a lot of data. As Bahrain is one of the most demanding
circuits on brakes we monitored and evaluated our brake performance
throughout. We experienced no problems and look forward to
the rest of the weekend."
NORBERT HAUG
"We completed our preparation programme for Saturday
and Sunday and the times in race trim are not looking bad.
Lewis’s crash luckily was not too hard - his team now
have a lot of work ahead before Saturday but they will manage."
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