Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen topped the times for Lotus in yesterday afternoon’s second free practice session for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Driving with typical aggression and aplomb, the “Ice Man” clocked a best time of 1 minute, 34.154 seconds on his medium tires midway through the 90 minutes to outpace nearest rival Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull by 0.03 seconds.
Webber, preparing for his 200th Formula One race tomorrow, clocked 1:34.184 to finish ahead of his third placed teammate defending triple champion German Sebastian Vettel by almost 1/10th of a second.
Photo: AFP
After the agony and angst of their early-season intra-team problems — triggered by the ruthless Vettel’s decision to ignore team orders and snatch victory from Webber in Malaysia — the Australian demonstrated that he has no intention of doing anything other than racing to win.
To achieve that, however, he may have to overcome an expected strong challenge from in-form Ferrari.
Two-time champion and winner of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix Spaniard Fernando Alonso was fourth for the “scarlet scuderia” ahead of Briton Paul di Resta of Force India, Brazilian Felipe Massa — who had been quickest in the morning’s opening session — and Frenchman Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus.
German Nico Rosberg was eighth for Mercedes ahead of compatriot Adrian Sutil in the second Force India car and Briton Lewis Hamilton, in the second Mercedes.
Britain’s Jenson Button, seeking to close the performance gap to the leaders in his improving McLaren, was unable to rise beyond 11th, a full 1.2 seconds slower than Raikkonen on another hot and testing day at the Sakhir circuit, 25km into the desert from Manama.
Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen, dropped by Caterham at the end of last season, made his return to the team as a reserve driver and lapped 20th of the 22 drivers in the first practice.
Another reserve, Venezuelan Rodolfo Gonzalez, made his first Friday appearance for Marussia in place of Jules Bianchi, but completed only seven laps due to a gearbox problem
The track temperature was 38°C and the air temperature a relatively moderate 33°C on the circuit — slightly cooler and more comfortable conditions than the previous day.
Opposition groups demanding more political freedoms in the Gulf kingdom had announced plans to protest as practice got under way and after clashes between radical groups and police overnight.
However, there was no evidence of unrest in and around the track.
A number of armored security vehicles were used to slow and check traffic or were parked discreetly in the shade, a reporter at the track said.
There were no signs of any security worries among the teams, the reporter added, after the FIA governing body and F1 promoters insisted the race would go ahead as planned.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set