Prac One: Hamilton dominates Monza practice
Friday 11th September 2009
Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren's KERS dominated Friday's first practice for the Italian GP as the Brit led the way almost from start to finish.
After putting in two laps to get his tyres up to temperature, Hamilton took the P1 slot from the two Toro Rosso who were out on track at the start and he never let it go, spending the rest of the session chipping away at his time to finish with a 1:23.936.
His closest rival was his team-mate Heikki Kovlainen, who finished the session 0.396s off the pace while Adrian Sutil was third.
As for Ferrari newbie, Giancarlo Fisichella, he was eighth quickest, two positions and 0.03s up on Kimi Raikkonen.
Report: Friday's first practice for the Italian GP weekend kicked off in warm sunshine with a fairly decent crowd already watching from the grandstand opposite the pits. Sebastian Buemi, Nick Heidfeld, Timo Glock, Sebastian Vettel, Jarno Trulli and Robert Kubica were the first out for the standard installation laps.
Tonio Liuzzi followed them out as he put in his first lap as a Force India driver. He was joined by Giancarlo Fisichella as the Italian ventured out for his first run as a Ferrari driver, the fulfilment of a boyhood dream. Fisichella's return to the pits was followed by a mad dash from the photographers wanting that special picture.
Buemi set the first timed lap of the morning, a 1:29.687 for the Swiss driver while his team-mate Jaime Alguersuari was two seconds slower. Both Toro Rosso drivers improved their times as they continued lapping with the track all to themselves before they were joined by Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen. Hamilton went second, slotting in between the Toro Rossos with Webber taking fourth place. Hamilton took P1 on his next lap with a 1:25.410, 0.137s up on Buemi's time. Webber improved to third with Kovalainen taking fifth place before moving to second.
Half-an-hour into the session, Fisichella ventured out for his first timed laps as a Ferrari driver, however, he was over five seconds off the pace. The Italian improved, taking 1.5s off his pace while Kimi Raikkonen slotted in behind him on the timesheets. Liuzzi entered the fray, taking 11th place on his first attempt, 4.5s off the pace. Fisichella, meanwhile, moved up to sixth place before being dropped as Raikkonen took sixth.
With 15 drivers having set times, Nick Heidfeld moved into third place behind the McLarens with Raikkonen taking fourth, Nico Rosberg sixth and Robert Kubica eighth. Kubica, though, didn't take long to find a place higher up while Raikkonen again improved, this time to third place.
Halfway through the session the top eight were Hamilton, Jenson Button, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Buemi, Heidfeld, Rosberg and Kubica.
Adrian Sutil put in a flyer to take second place for Force India before he was dropped by Button's return to P2. Kazuki Nakajima was another on the move as he climbed to sixth place while Jarno Trulli had a major off-track excursion and had to pick his way through the bollards to find his way back onto the track. Fernando Alonso moved up to sixth place as Renault attempted to put their current controversy behind them and focus on racing. His team-mate Romain Grosjean was P19.
Rubens Barrichello joined Button at the front of the timesheets as he took third place with a 1:25.026. That was, however, still 0.870s off Hamilton's pace. Grosjean improved 12th place, slotting in ahead of Alguersuari as the two inexperienced F1 drivers continued to learn their trade. Kovalainen, on the back of a relatively long run, climbed to third place, breaking up the Brawn GP pairing, and then moving ahead of Button into second place, 0.185s slower than Hamilton. Heidfeld made his way up to fourth place, slotting in between the Brawns. Alonso also moved ahead of Barrichello.
While Liuzzi reported on the team radio that he was satisfied with the car balance and circuit conditions, Fisichella was suffering with major understeer that left the Ferrari newbie at the back of the pack. But at least he wasn't spinning like Toyota's Timo Glock - some consolation.
Hamilton puts in a flyer but oversteps the mark and has to take to the escape road while Alonso moved up to third place. Liuzzi was another to use the escape roads as he braked too late for the Roggia chicane and used the run-off to rejoin the track at the approach to the first Lesmo. Hamilton put in two fastest sector times on his next lap to lower the benchmark to a 1:23.936.
With ten minutes remaining in the session, Fisichella finally moved away from the bottom of the timesheets, taking 17th place, while Vettel completed his first timed lap. The German is trying to save engines by not running in the first of Friday's practice sessions and was also reportedly suffering a steering issue. Fisichella continued to climb up the order as he took 10th place, just 0.4s behind Raikkonen before then taking eighth place, putting him ahead of Raikkonen.
The Ferrari pairing, though, were not match to the McLaren drivers who finished the session at the front of the pack with Hamilton ahead of Kovalainen.