McLaren's Lewis Hamilton edged his Ferrari rivals to post the day's fastest time in the closing moments of yesterday's practice sessions for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Ferrari had dominated both of yesterday's sessions before Hamilton -- winner in the season-opening Australian GP last weekend -- emerged in the final 10 minutes, taking advantage of cooling track temperatures under clouding skies at Sepang to set the day's best lap of 1 minute, 35.055 seconds.
He was 0.151 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa in session two, with world champion Kimi Raikonnen third best, another two-tenths of a second behind.
PHOTO: AP
The surprises of the second session were Honda's Jenson Button, Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel and Toyota's Jarno Trulli, who filled fourth, fifth and sixth on the time sheets respectively.
That trio was ahead of the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen in seventh and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica in eighth.
Hamilton's late lap was disheartening for Ferrari, with the team looking to rebound from a dismal season start at last week's Australian Grand Prix where they collected just one point.
However, Ferrari could take satisfaction from the reliability of their cars after the mechanical failures in Melbourne. Raikkonen did coast to a standstill in the first practice session, but the team blamed that on a miscalculation on fuel rather than a recurrence of the fuel feed malfunction.
As the clouds rolled in, track temperatures fell markedly, providing relief for the drivers in the cockpit, but also aiding tire life, with drivers complaining through the day how quickly the rubber was degrading on the demanding Sepang circuit.
Like Hamilton, Button completed his time on the very last lap of the 90-minute session. By contrast Vettel, was prominent throughout the session, indicating he could be competitive in today's qualifying and tomorrow's race.
Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais was the main casualty of the afternoon session. His engine failed less than a minute after the start and he did not complete a lap.
Red Bull's David Coulthard took no part in the afternoon session after an off-track excursion in the morning session, with both front wheels snapping off the chassis after hitting a curb. The fact one of the wheels came away from the car totally would be of concern to the team and F1 authorities, as strengthened tethers are meant to prevent such loose wheels endangering crowd and marshals.
Apart from Bourdais and Coulthard, only two other drivers completed fewer than 30 laps in the second session.
Ferrari set the best times in the morning session, with Massa ahead of Raikkonen, though almost all drivers set superior times in the afternoon.
Renault pair Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr were sixth and seventh quickest in the first practice session, but sank down the timesheets in the afternoon, adding to concern over the competitiveness of the French outfit.
Red Bull's Mark Webber had an engine failure in the opening session but did take his place in the afternoon. He will not face a grid penalty for changing the engine, as each team is allowed one penalty-free change in the season.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS