The weather can be relied upon to play a part at any time of the year at Spa-Francorchamps, and a damp track duly greeted drivers turning out for the second day of the F1 test.
Felipe Massa took Ferrari to the top of the sheets today, a day on which rain showers returned in the afternoon and seriously interrupted play. The Brazilian took the F2007 around in 1:46.698 while the track remained dry, to head Fernando Alonso by four tenths of a second as the McLaren man replaced Lewis Hamilton.
A further seven tenths behind the World Champion was Heikki Kovalainen, the Finn in the Renault sampling Spa in an F1 car for the first time. The gap is further proof of the gulf between the top two teams and the rest.
Fourth went to Ralf Schumacher, the German a full eight tenths slower than Kovalainen, with Adrian Sutil challenging his countryman as the Spyker driver stunned onlookers by mixing it at this level.
Two British drivers next as David Coulthard, for Red Bull, and Jenson Button in the Honda headed a returning Sebastian Bourdais, the French Champ Car ace again running for Toro Rosso.
Nico Rosberg (Williams), Anthony Davidson for Super Aguri and Robert Kubica, the BMW beset by gearbox problems, made up the numbers.
The main news of the day centres around Honda test driver Christian Klien, the Austrian having been released by Honda ion order to test for Spyker tomorrow, further enhancing his status as favourite to replace Christijan Albers in the Ferrari-powered car.
Although there is no guarantee of a race drive, Klien took the time to thank Spyker for the opportunity, while Honda Sporting Director Gil de Ferran explained the team were happy to ‘do whatever is possible to help our young drivers to further their careers and keep moving forward.’
Written: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:02:07
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- (July 11, 2007)View all headlines from this date
