Free Practice 1 – Ferrari Resumes Its Forward March

Felipe Massa continued his momentum from the European Grand Prix by making a strong impression during Friday morning’s practice sessions at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Brazilian is ahead of his teammate Kimi Räikkönen and the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen in third and fourth.

Massa was the fastest for most of the morning under a cloudy sky but without rain. He was the first to go out and then repeatedly improved his time.

Räikkönen had a good start to the weekend with a mid-race time of 1:48.075, which will allow him to get ahead of Massa.

But the Finnish driver’s domination was short-lived because six minutes later Massa clocked a time of 1:47.813 and reclaimed first place. He would retain it despite the improved times from his teammate and Hamilton. The latter was beating the Ferraris in the second sector with soft tires but was losing ground in the other two sectors.

Massa also equipped himself with soft tires for his final laps to once again improve on the time sheet, first with a 1:47.369 and then with a 1:47.284.

Räikkönen finishes 0.339 seconds behind. Hamilton is therefore third after a mistake at La Source. The Briton had already gone off and back in the gravel at Les Combes.

Fernando Alonso’s Renault was among the top-performing cars this morning. The Spaniard is in fifth position behind Kovalainen.

Mark Webber for Red Bull crosses the checkered flag in sixth place during his last lap of the session, pushing back the Toro Rosso.

The girls’ team once again showed promising signs with Sébastien Bourdais taking the 7th position and Sebastian Vettel the 8th. The German tasted the runoff areas during the session!

Timo Glock’s Toyota and Nelson Piquet’s Renault complete the top ten. BMW has a disappointing morning. Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld only managed the 11th and 12th times. The Pole complained over the radio about the competitiveness of his car.

There were other incidents concerning, for example, Jarno Trulli’s Toyota, which was held in the pits due to an electrical problem for a good part of the session. It is the Honda cars of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello that bring up the rear.

Results Free Practice 1 – Belgian GP – September 5, 2008