2008 MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX FREE PRACTICE
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton posted the
fastest lap of the day in Friday’s Free Practice for
the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit. In the afternoon
session, Lewis did 32 laps and set a time of 1m35.055. Team
mate Heikki Kovalainen was seventh fastest in the second session
with 1m36.512 (30 laps) for the 5.543km lap. In the morning
session, Heikki was third fastest with 1m36.556 (21 laps)
whilst Lewis ended up fifth fastest with 1m36.626 (17 laps).
Practice Session One:
Lewis: Heikki:
10.01: out/in 10.07: out / in
10.31: 8 laps, best 1:37.084 10.35: 5 laps, best 1:36.873
10.57: 6 laps, best 1:36.626 (5th) 10.56: 7 laps, best 1:36.625
11.20: 2 laps, no time 11.19: 7 laps, best 1:36.556 (3rd)
Practice Session Two:
Lewis: Heikki:
14.03: 6 laps, best 1:37.206 14.03: 4 laps, best 1:37.943
14.27: 10 laps, best 1:36.685 14.26: 6 laps, best 1:36.874
14.50: 11 laps, best 1:36.324 14.47: 10 laps, best 1:36.711
15.21: 5 laps, best 1:35.055 (1st) 15.16: 10 laps, best 1:36.512
(7th)
LEWIS HAMILTON
"I am pretty happy with today’s results as the
car showed consistent pace throughout the session and good
overall speed. Unfortunately the morning session was not perfect
as I had a slight problem on the car right at the end, but
this didn’t really have any effect on our planned programme
of tyre evaluation and race set up work."
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
"That was a good, steady start to the weekend. The car
feels pretty comfortable to drive round here, and we made
good progress on the set up for the race. The track surface
had only recently been relayed, and as a result it was constantly
evolving throughout the two sessions. The conditions here
are always very extreme with the heat and humidity, but this
had no effect on the cars performance, and I am pretty happy
so far with how everything has gone. "
MARTIN WHITMARSH
"With these back to back races at the start of the season,
it is often difficult to keep up the momentum of our relentless
development pace; subsequently both drivers were evaluating
several new parts on top of the set up and tyre evaluation
work that is customary during the Friday sessions. Despite
the small gearshift problem on Lewis’s car this morning
we are pretty comfortable with the performance of the MP4-23
here. Obviously there is always room to improve and the engineers
will be working hard this evening to find those extra tenths,
but overall we are reasonably happy."
NORBERT HAUG
"We did, as originally planned, a lot of laps today and
Lewis, Heikki and their teams found a good set up and achieved
quick and consistent lap times on both types of tyres. However
this will probably be of little help for tomorrow’s
qualifying and Sunday’s Grand Prix as the weather forecast
is predicting rain, but we should be well equipped in those
circumstances, too."
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