2008 Formula One Australian Grand Prix

[MadMax13]

Judging by Practice this season is going to be a shitstorm or accidents...

[Dino Scuderia]

The first day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park saw Ferrari and McLaren evenly matched, but was generally confusing as all sorts of differing fuel loads were used as drivers set their fastest times.

It didn’t help that the track conditions changed dramatically between the morning and the afternoon sessions, as the circuit rubbered in, and that high winds affected handling. We examine how each team fared…

Ferrari
Fastest lap of day, Raikkonen 1m 26.461s, morning
Kimi Raikkonen was fastest overall, but admitted that he wasn’t happy with the way that practice went for Ferrari. The F2008 was better in the morning, but the team did a less good job with the settings as the track conditions changed in the afternoon. Felipe Massa’s spin in the afternoon prevented him from using his second set of soft Bridgestones. Like others, he found the medium compounds more durable, and that the softer rubber tended to give better grip over one lap before graining.

McLaren
Fastest lap of day, Hamilton 1m 26.559s, afternoon
Lewis Hamilton was happy with his day, believing that McLaren made the best use of their car in the changing conditions. Heikki Kovalainen, on his first Grand Prix run for McLaren, felt satisfied with the start he made with the team as he set fourth fastest times in both sessions.

Red Bull
Fastest lap of day, Webber, 1m 27.473s, afternoon
Overall, Mark Webber was happy with what Red Bull achieved, believing that there were four or five cars that were faster than his but, like many other drivers, expressing the view that the fuel load situation clouded the issue and prevented anyone drawing firm conclusions. David Coulthard lost time with his gearbox problem in the morning, but was happy with the fifth fastest time in the afternoon.

Toyota
Fastest lap of day, Trulli, 1m 28.292s, afternoon
Tyre graining was Toyota’s primary problem today, which set the team working hard on settings to try and alleviate the problem. Jarno Trulli felt that this was a qualified success and was unhappy to drop his RF108 in the gravel after putting a rear wheel on the grass under braking. Timo Glock was busy learning the track, and admitted that he hasn’t yet set up his TF108 to suit his press-on driving style.

Williams
Fastest lap of day, Rosberg, 1m 28.352s, afternoon
Williams’ day began badly with Nico Rosberg doing only three installation laps in the morning because of a gearbox problem, but he got on the case in the afternoon to set the eighth fastest time despite further problems with the differential. Kazuki Nakajima also had a gearbox problem in the morning which hurt his track learning time.

Renault
Fastest lap of day, Alonso, 1m 28.360s, morning
Fernando Alonso was concerned about the stability of his car under braking, but Nelson Piquet was in greater trouble. First he spun and brought out the red flag in the morning, indirectly causing some problems in his gearbox which took trouble to fix. That hurt him in the afternoon too, which seriously compromised his track learning time.

Force India
Fastest lap of day, Fisichella, 1m 28.469s, afternoon
Giancarlo Fisichella felt that Force India had made a big step forward over the winter and was happy with his progress as he set the afternoon’s ninth best time, while Adrian Sutil encountered a minor hydraulic problem in the morning which was rectified in time for the second session.

BMW Sauber
Fastest lap of day, Kubica, 1m 28.579s, morning
BMW Sauber had a tough day. Nick Heidfeld was sidelined in the morning when a switch short-circuited, killing the electrics and stranding him out on the track. Things were fine in the afternoon, when he set the 12th fastest time. Robert Kubica did a lot of work comparing tyre compounds.

Honda
Fastest lap of day, Button, 1m 28.632s, afternoon
Jenson Button was pleased to discover that the improvement he had felt in the Honda RA108 still held up in Melbourne, as he set the 11th fastest time in the afternoon. He and Rubens Barrichello worked through their programmes without problems, in particular evaluating the two tyre compounds.

Toro Rosso
Fastest lap of day, Vettel, 1m 28.957s, morning
On the green track in the morning, Sebastian Vettel was faster with his Toro Rosso than he went in the afternoon, while ‘Other Seb,’ Bourdais, lost time with an undisclosed problem in the garage in the afternoon.

Super Aguri
Fastest lap of day, Sato, 1m 30.663s, afternoon
Super Aguri inevitably paid a penalty for their restricted winter testing, and in particular that affected Anthony Davidson who suffered an overheating problem in the afternoon. Small design changes were required to cure the problem for tomorrow.

[faksta]

They've practices while I was studying. Uhh.. So, waiting for a quali tomorrow morning

[RacingManiac]

Without TC(and with the homologated ECU) it sure made a bigger difference than I thought it would.....the cars seem so much more alive...

[Suka]

I just watched some videos on YouTube of the practice since i couldn't watch it live, looks like Lewis is going to enjoy this year. The cars seem to be tending towards the handling on the GP2 cars. reminds me of Lewis' driving style and how he liked to have the car sliding a bit more.
This should be a good year.

[david.gago]

Well i'm actually here watching the lap times, and what a beautifull dayh it is poeple. 43degrees celcius on friday. Dam that is hot.
Mark Webber with the 2nd fastest lap... MAD

[Suka]

Well this should be fun. Being a Uni student i have got access to a TV streaming program so getting ITV isn't difficult for me. Who else in the UK is up for this?

[Jack_Bauer]

Saturday's morning practice session was an opportunity for the midfield teams to shine as the Big Two decided to focus on long-run set up work and didn't set any real hot laps. BMW Sauber took the headlines with Kubica and Heidfeld taking the honours from Fernando Alonso's Renault. Red Bull continued their impressive showing from yesterday, and Nico Rosberg put yesterday's gearbox problems behind him and showed some good pace in the Williams.

Not much can be read into the lowly positions of the McLaren and Ferrari drivers, they will surely be at the top when qualifying kicks off shortly...

Saturday Practice times

01 R. Kubica BMW 1:25.613 18 laps
02 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:25.950 16 laps
03 F. Alonso Renault 1:26.082 14 laps
04 N. Rosberg Williams 1:26.171 17 laps
05 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:26.385 14 laps
06 M. Webber Red Bull 1:26.407 17 laps
07 J. Button Honda 1:26.502 18 laps
08 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.663 18 laps
09 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:26.682 18 laps
10 J. Trulli Toyota 1:26.882 11 laps
11 F. Massa Ferrari 1:27.020 19 laps
12 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:27.084 14 laps
13 T. Glock Toyota 1:27.162 15 laps
14 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:27.163 17 laps
15 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:27.284 13 laps
16 R. Barrichello Honda 1:27.333 18 laps
17 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:27.489 18 laps
18 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:27.578 17 laps
19 K. Nakajima Williams 1:27.601 15 laps
20 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:27.992 15 laps
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:28.363 13 laps
22 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:28.912 15 laps

[Jack_Bauer]

Originally Posted by Suka

Well this should be fun. Being a Uni student i have got access to a TV streaming program so getting ITV isn't difficult for me. Who else in the UK is up for this?

Why do you need a TV streaming program? Do you not own a television?

[Suka]

Originally Posted by Jack_Bauer

Why do you need a TV streaming program? Do you not own a television?

Its that little bit more expensive to rent Uni accommodation with TV socket. I save my money and use this progam. It gives TV quality pictures and at a good pace since the internet connection is so good on campus.

[Jack_Bauer]

Originally Posted by Suka

Its that little bit more expensive to rent Uni accommodation with TV socket. I save my money and use this progam. It gives TV quality pictures and at a good pace since the internet connection is so good on campus.

Heh, I guess things must have changed since my days at Uni! No internet connections in rooms in my day, no TV sockets either for that matter! I had to make do with a little portable aerial on top of my ickle TV.

[Quiggs]

Did you have to walk uphill in the snow, both ways, to get to school, too?

[Suka]

Hamilton has brilliant car control...

[Jack_Bauer]

Raikkonen in trouble! Car conked out in the pitlane entrance.

He also could be in trouble with the stewards after clearly impeding Kubica earlier on in th session.

[Suka]

Interesting first session, sad to see Piquet go out so early. Its really nice to see the cars moving about so much, i think my next avatar is going to be Hamilton drifting his car round the second to last corner or the first two corners.