UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Prac 1: Ferrari lead the way

Sutil throws up surprise

Formula One returned to Fuji Speedway for the first time in 30 years and Ferrari celebrated it with a dominant one-two practice result that saw Kimi Raikkonen take the fastest time ahead of team mate Felipe Massa.

The McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton put down a strong performance to lie just behind the Ferraris in what is a needed win for all parties involved.

Nico Rosberg in the first of the Williams was next in fifth with team mate Alexander Wurz fractions behind in seventh. They were split by the BMW of Robert Kubica who put in another impressive drive.

Eighth was the ever reliable Jarno Trulli in his Toyota at their home track. This is not the result they wanted, but better than being dead last. In ninth was the surprise of the session, Adrian Sutil piloting the Spyker. For a while he was in fifth but slipped back late after a great 5 laps which saw him consistently improve his times.

Brit Anthony Davidson was tenth in the first of the home town Super Aguri's which lead home the other home team in Honda, the first piloted by Rubens Barrichello. Heikki Kovalainen ended the session in 12th after spending the majority of his time up the leader board, which puts Renault in a difficult position for this weekend.

Nick Heidfeld in the second of the BMW's was unusually back in 13th, although the midpack of cars is tightly bunched. He was followed closely by Vitantonio Liuzzi in the Toro Rosso, Ralf Schumacher in the second Toyota and Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Renault.

Takuma Sato spent most of the session in pit lane for various problems but once out on track set some good lap times to finish not far off team mate Davidson at Super Aguri. The disappointment of the session goes to Red Bull who had Mark Webber in 18th and David Coulthard in 21st, not where they wanted to be towards the end of the season.

In 19th was the Honda of Jenson Button who looked good early on but was unable to produce a good final lap for the session. He was followed home by Sebastian Vettel who spent a lot of time off track after stopping early on, but was able to get back and enjoy some good running. Last but not least was home driver Sakon Yamamoto in the second Spyker who did not get many laps in after stopping on track half way through the session.

Written: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 03:33:13