*** 2007 European GP ***

[blue8]

Practice 1 Times:
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:32.515 26 laps
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:32.751 24 laps
03 F. Alonso McLaren 1:32.932 27 laps
04 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:32.975 35 laps
05 R. Kubica BMW 1:33.205 34 laps
06 F. Massa Ferrari 1:33.605 24 laps
07 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:33.825 32 laps
08 J. Button Honda 1:33.936 28 laps
09 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:34.062 25 laps
10 R. Barrichello Honda 1:34.142 25 laps
11 J. Trulli Toyota 1:34.152 34 laps
12 A. Wurz Williams 1:34.345 32 laps
13 N. Rosberg Williams 1:34.563 32 laps
14 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:34.567 30 laps
15 M. Webber Red Bull 1:34.683 22 laps
16 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:34.708 36 laps
17 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34.907 31 laps
18 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:34.921 21 laps
19 G. Fisichella Renault 1:35.077 22 laps
20 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:35.643 15laps
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:36.340 22 laps
22 M. Winkelhock Spyker F1 1:37.116 30 laps

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in Friday's opening practice session at the Nurburgring, edging out Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. The McLaren rookie, who is leading the race for the Drivers' Championship title, clocked a 1:32.515 to beat Raikkonen by an impressive 0.236s. Markus Winkelhock, who is making his grand prix debut with Spyker this weekend, was the first man out on track, leading a trio of cars who all did their installation laps before pitting. Alex Wurz, Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher all came out and had their turns at the top of the timesheets before the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton emerged. Although the rookie made a mistake at the RTL curve on his first timed lap, he went on to set the fastest time on his next lap. Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso filled in behind him, dropping Ralf to fifth place with Nick Heidfeld behind him. Jarno Trulli was seventh after the first half an hour with Felipe Massa in eighth place. Raikkonen, pushing hard, run very wide at the final turn, putting his left wheels onto the grass while his team-mate improved fo fifth place. Heidfeld was another man on the move, taking second place off his team-mate. However, the BMW driver was still 0.481s off Hamilton's P1 time. The German, though, continued to push, setting the fastest final sector time, which helped him close the gap to Hamilton to 0.146s. Meanwhile at the back of the field, Winkelhock had a quick spin while exiting the Mercedes Arena. The Spyker rookie bounced over the kerbs on the exit resulting in the back end of his car coming round. However, he was able to keep the engine going and returned to lapping the Nurburgring circuit. Heikki Kovalainen improved to ninth place, although was almost two seconds off the pace as, with half an hour left, only the top seven were within a second of Hamilton's impressive P1 time. Trulli, in eighth place, was 1.003s off the pace. Giancarlo Fisichella ran wide at Valvoline. The Renault driver put all four wheels onto the grass before returning to the track only to take to the gravel at the exit of the next corner. Fisichella, though, recovered and continued on his way. Alonso, meanwhile, improved to third place ahead of Kubica. However, the BMW driver fought back almost immediately, posting the fastest first sector time as he jumped both Alonso and Heidfeld to take second place. Heidfeld, though, then leapfrogged Kubica for second place, setting a 1:33.176, which put him 0.027s off the P1 time. Rubens Barrichello leapt up the order to take ninth place off Kovalainen while Massa jumped Raikkonen for fifth place. David Coulthard and Jenson Buttton were also on the move as they broke into the top ten relegating Barrichello. With ten minutes remaining on the clock, the majority of the to ten drivers hit the track on soft rubber, trying to improve their times and work on set-up. Raikkonen was the first to up the ante, setting the fastest times in sectors one and two on his way to the P1 slot. He was the first driver to get ahead of Hamilton all session long. Heidfeld followed suit, taking second place off the McLaren rookie only to be beaten by Alonso moments later. Hamilton, though, returned to the party taking P1 off Raikkonen with a 1:32.515. His team-mate Alonso improved to third place, relegating to the BMWs to P4 and P5. Coulthard split the Toyotas, taking eight place off Trulli while Wurz moved up into tenth place. Barrichello upped his pace to slot into ninth place before his team-mate Button took P8.

[saadie]

GO Raikkonen!! 8)

yep BMW is doing alott better .... my new fav constructor this year

[Mattk]

Yeah, BMW have been improving a lot since they've started. They're really firming up as a team to watch out for in the future. They're just really consistent in both qualifying and the races.

[blue8]

Practice 2 Times:
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:33.339 28 laps
02 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:33.478 28 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:33.590 27 laps
04 F. Alonso McLaren 1:33.637 30 laps
05 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:33.668 18 laps
06 J. Trulli Toyota 1:33.746 22 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 1:33.845 24 laps
08 J. Button Honda 1:33.880 36 laps
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:34.146 22 laps
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:34.221 19 laps
11 M. Webber Red Bull 1:34.235 29 laps
12 A. Wurz Williams 1:34.264 21 laps
13 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:34.357 26 laps
14 R. Barrichello Honda 1:34.411 26 laps
15 G. Fisichella Renault 1:34.431 28 laps
16 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:34.446 25 laps
17 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:34.504 19 laps
18 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:34.554 26 laps
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:35.320 26 laps
20 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:35.653 24 laps
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:36.527 25 laps
22 M. Winkelhock Spyker F1 1:37.319 19 laps

Conditions were not quite perfect this afternoon at the Nurburgring, as rain left the circuit slightly damp at the start of the afternoon 90 minute session. The slippery surface soon gave way to full-dry conditions, but no one was quite able to match the best laps set this morning. Kimi Raikkonen set the afternoon pace in his Ferrari with a best lap of 1:33.339s. The Finn’s time was however eight-tenths off Hamilton’s best set earlier today. The McLaren Mercedes driver led the way for some time this afternoon, but a mistake on his final run saw him take to the grass and abandon the lap. While Raikkonen and Hamilton led the way once again, Felipe Massa looked much more comfortable than he did this morning in his Ferrari. The Brazilian did have his own off track moment exiting the first complex of turns, but managed the third fastest time ahead of Fernando Alonso in the second McLaren. Ralf Schumacher vaulted up the timesheets with a set of soft tyres to record the fifth fastest time in his Toyota. The TF107 seems well suited to this circuit as Jarno Trulli was less than a tenth slower with the sixth best time. Nico Rosberg was seventh fastest in his Williams Toyota ahead of Jenson Button in the seemingly improving Honda. Nick Heidfeld will be disappointed with P9 in his BMW Sauber, but the team proved this morning that when needed, they have good pace with the F1.07 package. Robert Kubica rounded out the top ten. Red Bull Renault has Mark Webber and David Coulthard 11th and 17th on the timesheets while Alex Wurz found himself demoted to 12th in his Williams as other made gains in the final minutes of running. Takuma Sato set the 13th best time ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the second Honda while Renault continued to struggle with apparent handling difficulties. Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen were just 15th and 16th respectively. Towards the tail of the field, Scott Speed set the 19th fastest time while team-mate Tonio Liuzzi had a high speed trip through the gravel trap on his way to P20. Adrian Sutil was 21st best while Marcus Winkelhock did a great hob in his Spyker to get close to Sutil’s pace, but then spun out of the session.

[saadie]

Ralf is gonna put in all his little balls to keep the contract next year ...
... not a bad resuly thou

[gangajas]

FA vs Massa:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l...1-europe_sport

[DeMoN]

getting ready to sleep so i can wakeup to watch the qualifying =)

[blue8]

Thanks for the vid! I didn't know the practice sessions were recorded. Are they televised because I don't get to see any of it?

[saadie]

the practice sessions are televised ..

[harryo2b]

I'll be at the races on Sunday so hopefully I can get some pics to share. It will be my first F1 race so I am really excited. Of course I opted for the "cheap" seats since I'm not that crazy but at least I have seats. Hope the weather stays beautiful like it is today.

[saadie]

Practice 3

Raikko 1:31.396
Hamilt 1:31.627
Alonso 1:32.039

[saadie]

hmilton crashes out ....

finally ... :roll:

[saadie]

right front tyre failure .... damn .. that was hard .. hius head nearly hit the barrier

edit: .... something in the suspention broke and fucked up the tyre really bad . oh well

edit 2 :: front right wheel baring failure

[yg60m]

With this crash, it will be hard to stay on the podium but who knows and his position is not that bad ... Knowing him and from what he shows last year in GP2 and at the start of the season it could give us a very nice battle !!

[blue8]

Qualifying:

Hamilton crashed in the tyre wall at Michael Schumacher corner due to a right front tyre failure.

According to McLaren, a problem with the wheel gun at Hamilton's last pit stop was the root cause of the accident. In effect, the right front wheel was not secured properly.

11 N. Rosberg 1:31.978
12 A. Wurz 1:31.996
13 G. Fisichella 1:32.010
14 R. Barrichello 1:32:221
15 A. Davidson 1:32.451
16 T. Sato 1:32.838
17 J. Button 1:32.983
18 S. Speed 1:33.038
19 V. Liuzzi 1:33.148
20 D. Coulthard 1:33.151
21 A. Sutil 1:34.500
22 M. Winkelhock 1:35.940