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With the AT&T
Williams team seeing their drivers finish the opening practice session for
the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix in sixteenth and seventeenth one was hopeful
of seeing an improved performance in the second Friday practice. With the
start of the session the circuit would be quite busy with half of the field
taking to the track. Both Williams drivers were out on the track with Kazuki
second behind Alonso with five minutes of the session run. Only the Ferrari's had
yet to take to the track as Hamilton would go fastest ahead of Piquet. Nico
was now fourth ahead of Heidfeld and Kazuki. Kubica would move into second
and Heidfeld third. Raikkonen was in fifth. He would improve to move into
third. Vettel would again pull off the track with further problems with his
car.
Massa was now fourth as Bourdais moved into seventh. Most drivers were using
the harder tyre as Kovalainen went fastest with a 1m:21.024. Nico had
dropped down the order to be in eleventh with a time of 1m:22.348. Kazuki
was down in nineteenth with a 1m:22.838 with just over an hour and five
minutes remaining. Both Williams drivers were out on the track. At the front
it was Kovalainen from Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Bourdais, Alonso, Piquet, and
in tenth Fisichella. Kazuki was running on the softer tyre as he worked hard
to try and move up the order. Nico was also on the softer tyre as team boss
Frank Williams watched the proceedings.
Both McLarens had returned to the track as Kazuki was able to move up to
sixteenth, 1m:22.577. Even on the softer tyre both Williams drivers were
struggling to set competitive times. Nico had dropped to be in twelfth, as
both Williams drivers pitted. Hamilton was also on the softer tyre. Kazuki
engineer's would tell him that he could do better on several corners while Kazuki said
that he did not get as much graining on the tyres, a complaint that several
drivers were making. With just under an hour remaining Nico was in twelfth
and Kazuki eighteenth. At the front Hamilton was able to move to the top of
the times with a 1m:20.891. Kovalainen was also on the softer tyres.
The top six were all out on the track. Glock was in fifth, 1m:21.662,
followed by Kubica and Heidfeld. Trulli was able to put in a quick lap that
would see him move ahead of his team-mate and into fifth, 1m:21.505. He was
on the harder tyre. Kubica would also push Glock down an extra place as the
BMW driver moved into sixth with a 1m:21.521. It looked like there were
improvements coming from both types of tyres. Kubica would improve on his
next lap to be fourth, 1m:21.363. Like Trulli he was on the harder tyre.
Nico and Kazuki were now in fourteenth and eighteenth. Both McLaren's had
pitted.
Both Nico and Kazuki would take to the track with fifty minutes left in the
session. Both were again on the softer tyre and both would see improvements
in their times with Kazuki moving up to eighth, 1m:21.902. This would become
ninth as Nico moved ahead of his team-mate and into eighth with a 1m:21.690.
Again it was a case of both drivers matching each others performance. Both
of the Ferrari's continued on the track but had yet to see any improvements
in position. But Massa was able to find the extra pace that would see him
move up to second, 1m:21.010. He was also running on the harder tyre.
Both Williams drivers would pit while Raikkonen would also come in. With
forty minutes remaining the order was Hamilton from Massa, Kovalainen,
Kubica, Raikkonen, Trulli, Glock, Nico, Kazuki, and in tenth Heidfeld. At
least both Williams drivers were now in the top ten but there were still
several quick drivers like Alonso to consider. Coulthard would move from
nineteenth to now be in tenth, 1m:21.906. Both McLaren's were back out,
joined by Raikkonen. Nico and Kazuki would also return to the track with
thirty five minutes left. Kovalainen was able to improve moving to the top
of the times with a 1m:20.760, but Hamilton would move back ahead of his
team-mate with a 1m:20.600. Hamilton was on the harder tyre while Kovalainen the softer.
Heidfeld would also complain about the graining of the tyres. Nico would
improve to be in seventh with a 1m:21.581, again using the softer tyre.
Kazuki was still in ninth. Kubica was back out on the softer tyre while Nico
would pit. Kazuki would drop to tenth as Heidfeld moved into ninth,
1m:21.736. Kazuki was shown running wide at Turn three but was able to
continue. Massa was back out on the track with thirty minutes remaining.
Kazuki had also pitted. Of the top ten only the Williams drivers were not
out on the track. Massa was on the softer tyre. Nico would also come out
this time on the harder tyre. Raikkonen would make a small improvement that
would see him now fourth, 1m:21.166, coming most likely from the fact that
he was on the softer tyre. Kovalainen and Trulli would pit.
Hamilton was fastest in the first sector while Kazuki would drop to eleventh
as Coulthard moved in to tenth, 1m:21.837. Hamilton would abort his lap and
return to the pits. Several drivers, including Alonso and Trulli, would have
moments at Turn one. But Alonso, on soft tyres, would keep it all together
and move into third with a 1m:20.928. Nico was back in the pits briefly as
he and Kazuki were now in eighth and twelfth. Kazuki had also left the pit lane. Nico would
also run wide at Turn one after locking up his front left. Kazuki would drop
down to thirteenth as Piquet moved into eleventh, 1m:21.752.
Ten minutes remaining and Nico was back in the pits. Kovalainen and
Raikkonen were back out. They were joined by Hamilton, Kubica, Trulli, and
Alonso. Kovalainen was on the harder tyre as he went fastest in sector one.
Kazuki had pitted as Kovalainen failed to improve on his second. Raikkonen
was on the softer tyre as Hamilton was on a very quick lap going fastest in sectors one
and two. He would improve his time with a 1m:20.554. Raikkonen was now
fourth with a 1m:21.009. Massa was in fifth followed by Kubica. With five
minutes left both Nico and Kazuki were back out. Heidfeld would improve to
now be sixth with a 1m:21.138. As the final minutes counted down Piquet
would put in a quick lap that would see him in second, 1m:20.748. He was on the softer tyre for his
run.
But Piquet would spin at Turn one losing the back end. He would pit joining
his team-mate Alonso. Nico was in tenth and Kazuki fourteenth. As the
session came to an end Webber would move up to thirteenth. This would push
Kazuki down one place to fourteenth. Hamilton was out on the softer tyre but
would fail to improve. Webber would improve to now be in twelfth while Coulthard
was in thirteenth. So with the end of the session the top ten was Hamilton
from Piquet, Kovalainen, Alonso, Raikkonen, Massa, Heidfeld, Kubica, Trulli,
and Nico. On his last flying lap Kazuki would spin and have his car go back
end first into the barriers but he was able to continue.
As for the AT&T Williams drivers the session would see an improvement with
both drivers moving up the order but the rest of the weekend, based on their
Friday running, is still going to be a struggle. But it was very much the
case for all drivers that there would be a degree of uncertainty over the
tyres. |