Practice at the Sepang circuit began today, with BMW driver Robert Kubica leading the charge. The BMW team tested new aero parts on the F1.07 at Sepang today, and from first day’s practice, looks promising. Although they topped the timesheets, Kubica believes that Ferrari and McLaren are well ahead of his team. He quotes, “It looks like Ferrari is on a completely different planet, I think McLaren and Ferrari… especially Ferrari is not our target. We have to be realistic. If I can finish top five, I will be happy”. BMW continued work on making sure that their gearbox is reliable, hoping not to repeat Kubica’s retirement at Melbourne.
Ferrari, with Kimi behind the wheel, clocked in 2nd fastest, only 0.115s behind Kubica. Ferrari suffered overheating problems with Kimi’s F2007 at the closing stages of the race at Melbourne, and hope the engine will make it through the hot weather at Sepang. Kimi’s F2007 apparently suffered from a leaky radiator after his 2nd pitstop, causing heat issues in the engine.
Over at McLaren, Alonso is working on his driving, testing on the McLaren simulator instead of testing at Sepang this week. He wants to make sure his driving style adjustments are right for the new Bridgestone tires in hopes of getting an advantage over Hamilton. As I mentioned before, Alonso feels rookies have an advantage this year when it comes to the new tires. He wants that advantage gone before the next race. Pedro De La Rosa was the sole McLaren tester today, and clocked in 5th, nearly a second behind the BMW. McLaren concentrated on new parts on the MP4-22, and with Hamilton taking over testing duties tomorrow, we’ll see more clearly as to how McLaren stacks up for the upcoming race in a week and a half.
With that, here are the times for today’s practice:
- 1m36.187s - KUBICA BMW
- 1m36.302s - RAIKKONEN Ferrari
- 1m36.334s - WURZ Williams
- 1m36.826s - BARRICHELLO Honda
- 1m37.106s - DE LA ROSA McLaren
- 1m37.267s - MONTAGNY Toyota
- 1m37.389s - SATO Super Aguri
- 1m37.609s - COULTHARD Red Bull
- 1m38.199s - PIQUET JR Renault
- 1m38.503s - SPEED Toro Rosso
In other news, Bridgestone is testing 2 types of option tire markers, a big red dot on the sidewall, and a chalk white line in the tire grooves. It’s expected that the red dot will be used at Sepang, as it’s the easiest to apply. This will allow TV viewers to distinguish between the tires a lot easier than at Melbourne, since nobody could see that tiny white dot on the sidewalls.
It looks like there’s closure (for now) on the moving floors debate. Charles Whiting, the FIA’s technical delegate, has investigated the F2007 and has deemed it legal. Expect other teams to look into incorporate flexible moving floors to take advantage of the rules interpretation. You know, I’ve always said that FIA favors Ferrari, since they are the oldest team on the grid with great history, and fans around the world. This is a prime example. Last year, Renault had their Mass Damper system banned after FIA review. Renault lost an estimated 0.3s a lap after the system was removed, which changed the championship from Alonso dominating to Schumacher and Ferrari closing in on the championship until the final race of the year. With Ferrari well into the lead this year in performance, their grey area gets passed as legal. It doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to come up with this one, as it happens time and time again (ok maybe I’m a bit bitter hehe).
