Ferrari and McLaren clearly made their mark this morning at the opening of the 2008 Formula 1 season. The two teams claimed the top four positions in the first free practice session in Australia. On the Melbourne circuit, R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen outpaced Hamilton by nearly half a second.<\/p>\n
See the live – Free Practice 1<\/b><\/p>\n
It was BMW driver Nick Heidfeld who was the first to declare the 2008 season well underway by heading out within minutes of the green light. Then it was S\u00e9bastien Bourdais, the former four-time Champcar world champion, who set the first lap time within the next fifteen minutes.<\/p>\n
The conditions are good, and the rain won’t fall this weekend. It’s very hot, over 30\u00b0C in the air, but that doesn’t stop the reigning world champion from making a strong impact right from the start with this result achieved at the very last second. He overtakes Lewis Hamilton by a large margin during his final stint, while Massa takes third place, just 10 milliseconds behind the Briton, in a back-and-forth battle in the standings between the 3rd and 4th positions.<\/p>\n
The other McLaren, driven by Kovalainen, also gets off to a good start with the 4th fastest time, 0.6 seconds behind the leading Ferrari driver.<\/p>\n
Behind, it’s the abyss. The 5th is nearly two seconds behind, and it’s the national driver Mark Webber. The Australian places the Red Bull in the top 5 over one second and eight-tenths behind. He is ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Renault by a few thousandths.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard was not very consistent in his session. He was for a long time the man leading behind the Ferraris and the McLarens, before making two excursions into the gravel and losing the position to Webber. His teammate in the R28, Nelson Piquet, is only 18th, with a red flag to his name.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian wasn’t the only one who had difficulties this morning. Heidfeld had to stop at the side of the track, just like Coulthard due to an oil pressure problem, while Rosberg couldn’t even set a time due to a clear lack of speed in his car. He spent the session in the Williams garage.<\/p>\n
7th, Robert Kubica places the first BMW, more than two seconds behind the leaders. Toyota, for its part, achieves a reasonable performance with Glock and Trulli in the top 10, respectively 8th and 10th. Between the two Toyota TF108s, young Vettel in the Toro Rosso slots in.<\/p>\n
Button also delivers a good performance, considering Honda’s recent form. He is 11th and ahead of an impressive Force India, with Fisichella in 12th position.<\/p>\n
The only Frenchman in F1, S\u00e9bastien Bourdais, takes 14th place. The Super-Aguri, meanwhile, are at the back of the pack, just like Williams, who are visibly struggling this morning due to problems with the FW30s.<\/p>\n
2008 Australian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 – Results<\/b><\/p>\n