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First and
second for Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen respectively
in the first free practice session for the Belgian Grand
Prix and then second and fifth in the rain affected
afternoon. The conditions in the second session were
really treacherous, with light rain turning the track
into an ice rink in places, with occasional rivulets of
water and the very slippery white-painted kerbs catching
out a few drivers. Unfortunately, this included Kimi,
who lost some track time as he knocked off the rear wing
and damaged the floor on his F2008 when he spun at Turn
9.
Massa's morning lap was the quickest of the day in the
dry and both Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers were
generally happy with their performance level. Double
world champion Fernando Alonso was fastest this
afternoon for Renault, (although Felipe's morning time
was quickest of all) while following Felipe were the
McLaren-Mercedes duo of Heikki Kovalainen and series
leader, Lewis Hamilton. Following Kimi in sixth spot was
the Williams-Toyota of Nico Rosberg.
With today's difficult conditions, everyone will be
hoping for a dry morning session tomorrow, to fine tune
the cars prior to the afternoon qualifying session, when
according to some forecasts - and none of them seem to
predict the same thing for this part of the world - the
track could again be wet.
The Belgian Grand Prix weekend got underway in its usual
variable way, with occasional rain, especially in the
second free practice session. In fact, it was the
slightly damp circuit that cost Kimi Raikkonen around
thirty minutes of track time. The reigning world
champion had an off track excursion at Turn 9 and ended
up against the barriers, losing the rear wing. Up until
then, Kimi had completed 36 laps. Felipe had no
problems, ending the day with 42 laps under his belt and
with the outright fastest time of the day. "All in all,
it was a day of questions, characterized by rather
changeable track conditions," commented the Team
Principal of the Gestione Sportiva, Stefano Domenicali.
"We knew the weather here at Spa would play an important
role and today we had first hand experience of that.
From what we could understand of the day, taking into
account the usual Friday unknowns, the Ferrari barometer
is tending more towards good weather: our performance
level seems competitive and we are managing to get both
types of tyre to work well. It was a shame Kimi had an
"off," which lost him some track time, but I don't think
this will prove to be a handicap for the rest of the
weekend."
Felipe Massa: "It was an unusual day because of
the changing weather. Overall, I am happy with the work
we did over the three hours. The car is working well and
responds positively to the set up changes we have made.
We tried various solutions and now we must study the
data to draw the right conclusions. The tyres worked as
we had expected them to: the softer ones seem to offer
more performance. I think we are moving in the right
direction."
Kimi Raikkonen: "When I went off the track at
Turn 9, I clipped the kerb and the surface was a bit
slippery there because of the rain. I ended up spinning
and then hitting the barrier. Unfortunately, not only
did the rear wing break, but the floor was also damaged
and it could not be repaired in time. A shame as already
earlier, when I had gone onto new tyres, it had begun
raining and I lost a bit of time. Let's hope tomorrow
morning there's no rain so that I can run more
consistently in the dry. In the morning, apart from a
few little electrical problems, the car wasn't bad.
Tomorrow we will see what we can do and obviously the
weather will be a key factor."
Luca Baldisserri: "Kimi's off track excursion
meant we were unable to complete the full programme we
had planned for him. His car was too damaged to be
repaired within the time available. Even with the
hiccoughs caused by the coming and going of the rain,
for his part, Felipe was able to complete what we
planned for him, picking up some very useful
information. Allowing for the fact that track conditions
were difficult to understand during these three hours
and that temperatures were decidedly on the low side, I
think we can be competitive."
Free practice - First session
F. Massa: 1st 1.47.284 26 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 2nd 1.47.623 26 26 laps chassis 271
Weather: air 15/16 °C, track 15/16 °C, overcast with
some drizzle.
Free Practice - Second session
F. Massa: 2nd 1.48.504 16 26 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 5th 1.49.328 10 26 laps chassis 271
Weather: air 17/18 °C, track 17/18 °C, overcast, rain at
times.
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