The opening day of the 2008 championship is complete and for the first time we get an indication of who is quick and who’s not. After topping the timesheets in the first practice session with a best lap of 1:26.461s, Kimi Raikkonen was not working on raw qualifying speed this afternoon and it was Lewis Hamilton who topped the timesheets for McLaren Mercedes with a best time of 1:26.559s.
Friday afternoon testing is usually given over for race preparation, so reading too much into the times can be tricky. However, given the pace of Raikkonen this morning and Hamilton this afternoon, it is safe to say that Ferrari and McLaren are the teams to beat around the Albert Park circuit. No surprise there then.
Mark Webber was an encouraging second fastest in his Red Bull Renault while team-mate David Coulthard endured another difficult session in his RB4. After his engine issues in the morning, Coulthard ended the afternoon session getting a lift back to the pits from the Mercedes safety car following another mechanical problem. Still, fifth fastest, the pace is there.
Felipe Massa survived a big spin exiting the fast turn 12 right-hander to record the third fastest time of the session ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren, Coulthard and Raikkonen.
Toyota has shown well so far with Trulli setting the seventh fastest time, despite putting his left rear tyre on the grass and spinning out of the action late in the session. Timo Glock, making his Toyota Grand Prix debut was a solid tenth fastest in the sister TF107.
After a fraught start to the weekend, the Williams Toyota duo of Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima were able to belatedly get their programme under way this afternoon. The FW30 seemed particularly prone to rear brake lock ups and oversteer, but Rosberg will be happy enough for now with his eighth fastest time while Nakajima is getting up to speed and 16th.
Giancarlo Fisichella has shown great pace in pre-season testing with the Force India Ferrari team. Today the Italian again impressed with the ninth fastest time for the new team. Team-mate Adrian Sutil had a few off track excursions on his way to 17th.
Honda looked firmly mid-field with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello 11th and 14th but so too today did the BMW Sauber team. While considered a dark horse by some sections of the media, the F1.08 seemed fairly average today with Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica 12th and 16th respectively.
Renault has long-admitted that they are not expecting race wins this year but with Fernando Alonso back on board they will be hoping for better than 13th as the weekend progresses. New-signing Nelson Piquet did not complete many laps again and was just 19th of the 22 runners.
Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais were 18th and 20th for Toro Rosso Ferrari while Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson brought up the bottom of the timesheets for Super Aguri Honda.
