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Australian GP 15th-18th March 2007 - Saturday Free Practice 2.1 Report |
Length:
5.303 km |
| Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in the final practice session before qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, beating nearest challenger Giancarlo Fisichella by 0.4 seconds.
Lewis Hamilton again belied his rookie status by going third fastest, but the sensation of the hour was Anthony Davidson, who took a remarkable fourth in his Super Aguri. A rain shower just before the start of the session dissuaded the drivers from early flying laps, with the majority venturing out for an exploratory installation lap on intermediate tyres before returning to the pits until the precipitation passed and the track dried sufficiently for standard grooved rubber. A third of the session therefore elapsed before the action began in earnest, with Giancarlo Fisichella the first of the major contenders to set a competitive time. Fisichella's 1:28.366 lap stood as the benchmark until Ferrari and McLaren joined the fray after half an hour. Kimi Raikkonen immediately produced a 1:28.154, which was beaten moments later by Fernando Alonso's 1:27.612. Raikkonen improved to within 0.204 seconds of Alonso on his next lap, before taking command of the session with a 1:26.616 lap - nearly a second faster than the McLaren. Felipe Massa made it a Ferrari one-two a few minutes later, initially a fraction slower than Raikkonen before beating his teammate by 0.008 seconds with his second flying lap. But Raikkonen was not to be denied, and with ten minutes remaining he produced a 1:26.106, half a second clear of Massa. He would return to the track in the final moments and shave another tenth from his time, leaving him four tenths ahead of Fisichella, who provided further evidence of Renault's potential this weekend. Hamilton outpaced teammate Alonso again. The world champion looked like he might move to the top of the timesheets with his final lap, but an error at Turn 14 left him seventh, 0.3 seconds behind Hamilton. Massa could not get back on terms with Raikkonen and ended up fifth, behind the amazing Davidson, and ahead of BMW's Nick Heidfeld. Takuma Sato put the second Super Aguri ninth, between Heikki Kovalainen and Alex Wurz. The Austrian's Williams teammate Nico Rosberg held sixth for a while, but missed the final part of the session after stopping trackside in the first sector. Honda and Toyota struggled again, with Ralf Schumacher the best of the 'factory' Japanese quartet in 13th. |
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