GP – Free Practice 2: Räikkönen Ahead of the Renaults!

Kimi Räikkönen was once again the fastest this afternoon in Spain. For the fourth round of the 2008 Formula 1 season, and the first European weekend, the Ferrari driver completely dominated the first day. He will be the favorite tomorrow during the qualifications. This time, he is ahead of both Renault drivers with the R28-B.

The overall times for this second free practice session were slower than in the morning. Räikkönen posted a performance one second and three tenths slower than this morning, largely explained by higher fuel loads.

The drivers also completed more laps, averaging 37 laps, which is 15 more than this morning.

The first to take off were the Force-India with Sutil and Fisichella. They set the benchmark times before being successively beaten by the Red Bulls and then the Williams: Rosberg and Nakajima were at the top of the timesheet after an hour.

At that moment, the two Renaults came out. Alonso set the best time with 27 minutes left in the session in front of thousands of fans. His young teammate, Nelson Piquet, then surpassed him 10 minutes later by some 15 thousandths, then finally by 2 thousandths when the Spaniard improved his time.

With 5 minutes remaining in this second practice session, the Renaults were at the top of the timesheet, impressing the paddock following the implementation of some technical and aerodynamic improvements. However, with 4 minutes to go, it was Räikkönen who took the fastest lap, snatching the spot by a mere 84 thousandths over Piquet.

Surprisingly, the Force Indias are in the top 10. In contrast to the McLarens, which have encountered some issues, particularly for Kovalainen. The Finn completed 2 laps before experiencing a gearbox problem. Once repaired, he went out for another 6 laps and stopped once again in turn 6 due to an as-yet-unknown problem.

BMWs are also not in the top 10. Kubica and Heidfeld are 12th and 13th, respectively. Bourdais is 19th with the 2008 version Toro Rosso. The car is not as competitive as the previous version, but it’s the first appearance of the STR03 in a Grand Prix.

Finally, Sato and Davidson bring up the rear, just like this morning. The Super Aguri drivers are still more than three seconds off the best lap time.

Results of Free Practice 2 – 2008 Spanish GP