Formula 1 Store | Formula 1 News - March, 2008 |
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Mar.21 (GMM) MCLAREN-MERCEDES Lewis Hamilton took the shine off Ferrari's morning one-two - when he coasted into the pits with a gearbox problem - by going quickest in the afternoon. Heikki Kovalainen called his seventh "steady".-FERRARIKimi Raikkonen ran out of fuel amid a "communication misunderstanding" in the morning, but both F2008s are competitive.-HONDAJenson Button's fourth place is undoubtedly a false dawn, with teammate Rubens Barrichello settling in eleventh.-TORO ROSSO-FERRARISebastian Vettel calmed the sensation when he explained that fifth fastest doesn't tell "the full story", but Sebastien Bourdais had a truly miserable day on his maiden outing at Sepang, nearly driving into a BMW in pitlane before a wrong gear ratio blew his Ferrari engine.-TOYOTAJarno Trulli was sixth quickest, while teammate Timo Glock's hand is fully recovered after Melbourne but he still struggled to match his teammate's pace on new tyres and settled well down the order.-BMW-SAUBERAs in Melbourne, the German team made a low-key start on Friday; Robert Kubica needing an early gearbox change before outperforming his teammate Nick Heidfeld in both sessions. "I hope we manage to find a couple of setup improvements for Saturday, just like we did in Australia," said Heidfeld.-FORCE INDIA-FERRARIAs in Melbourne, Giancarlo Fisichella ranked conspicuously highly, again outperforming teammate Adrian Sutil, who had a Ferrari engine failure in the morning.-WILLIAMS-TOYOTATenth and twelfth for Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg, with Nakajima suffering a clutch problem in the morning.-RENAULTAs in qualifying in Melbourne, Renault was ominously the ninth quickest car of the eleven in the field on Friday afternoon, as Fernando Alonso - who drove without second gear until the transmission failed completely - led a seemingly improved Nelson Piquet. -RED BULL-RENAULTThe press release made no mention of it, but Red Bull has been asked by stewards to argue why they should not be excluded from the rest of the race weekend, after the suspension on David Coulthard's RB4 fell apart during a minor off in morning practice. Team boss Christian Horner said the problem was a "suspected track rod issue, which is very much a one off". The Scot subsequently did not practice in the afternoon, while Mark Webber was sixteenth quickest, following a Renault engine failure in the morning.-SUPER AGURI-HONDAAs in Melbourne, the struggling team is well off the pace and grappling with fundamental overheating issues as it deliberately conserves mileage. "The lack of winter testing is really hitting home now," said sporting director Graham Taylor.Discuss this topic on NewsOnF1 Forums
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