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2002
Malaysian Grand Prix Second Friday Practice Session |
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Drivers Championship
Constructors
Championship Second Friday Practice Session Report - ResultsKimi Raikkonen sets the fastest time of the session
ahead of his team-mate David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. Ralf
Schumacher, Mika Salo and Juan Pablo Montoya make the top 6. Judging by the first practice session, it would have been impossible to predict that it would McLaren ending up on top in the afternoon. Friday practice has never been indicative of the true pace of the cars however, the second session was warmer and while there was only one Michelin runner in the top 6 in the first session, there was only one Bridgestone runner in the top 6 in this session. Kimi Raikkonen's pace was equally stunning to that of Michael Schumacher in the first session. His time was 1.447 faster than the fastest time set during the 2nd practice session last year. Could he be running on low fuel ? We'll might get a better idea tomorrow. However with David Coulthard over half a second behind one would expect different fuel loads. Michael Schumacher tried his best to get close to the 2 McLaren's without avail. He ended up over 0.4 seconds behind Coulthard but interestingly enough the gap to his team-mate remained fairly static at around 0.8 seconds. The Williams appear to have found the right setup as they move into the top 6 but are still over 1.5 seconds off the pace. Same tyres as McLaren so were they on heavy fuel loads or are the McLaren's superior here ? Again we may get a better idea tomorrow! It is quite clear though that the Bridgestones were not as strong as the Michelins with only Heidfeld the only other Bridgestone runner to make it into the top 10. Frentzen was 13th and Fisichella who was the best Honda runner in 14th. Several car failures and spins during the session with Webber unable to complete a lap having to stop on the track with an engine failure. Enrique Bernoldi and Felipe Massa spinning into the gravel and Rubens Barrichello in the ultra reliable Ferrari stopped on the track. Towards the end of the session Pedro de la Rosa stopped on the track with a problem. Takuma Sato covered the most number of laps in both sessions with a total of 43 followed by Ralf Schumacher with 40 and Giancarlo Fisichella with 39. Mark Webber only managed 6 laps in both sessions while David Coulthard only managed 18 laps and Enrique Bernoldi did 19. All other drivers covered more than 22 laps. The tyres appear to have a significant effect on the times depending on the temperatures. Given that Qualifying and the Race will run under similarly high temperatures to this session, the Michelin runners look as if they will have a big advantage. That is if it doesn't pour down with rain!. 1st Saturday Practice session starts at 9:00 AM local time.
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