UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Practice 2: McLaren returns to the front

Sepang surprises

Lewis Hamilton hit back in Sepang for McLaren after a first session dominated by the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. The second session too was dominated by Ferrari right up until the end when Hamilton came out with soft tyres and low fuel to upset the apple cart.

Jenson Button in the Honda proved that they have some underlying pace as he managed to pull out a fourth place ahead of another surprise in Sebastian Vettel and his Toro Rosso. Jarno Trulli in the Toyota was also a surprise of the session as he managed to keep the Toyota up the front end for most of the session and ended in sixth.

Heikki Kovalainen in the second of the McLaren cars was one and a half seconds behind his team mate in seventh, ahead of Robert Kubica who he almost cleaned up late in the session. The BMW driver was making up for the bucket loads of time he missed in the first session when he produced some quality driving to finish eighth.

Giancarlo Fisichella was the final surprise of the day when he put his Force India car into ninth on a low fuel run. No one quite expected to see him up there again, but come qualifying it is doubtful that he will be near the top. Kazuki Nakajima took some time in that session but he eventually outshone Williams team mate Nico Rosberg as he took tenth, while Rosberg was close behind in 12th.

Rubens Barrichello in the second of the Hondas made it a good day for the team as he finished 11th while Nick Heidfeld in the second of the BMW's rounded out a tough day at the office for the Hinwil crew. Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet were down the order for Renault after a good first session, while Mark Webber managed to get running done without an engine explosion in this session.

Timo Glock was on for a surprise early but never managed to get onto the pace of team mate Trulli, while Adrian Sutil, Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson rounded out the drivers who completed a lap. Super Aguri will be again disappointed with the large discrepancy between them and the rest of the field.

Sebastien Bourdais went missing early on from the session with an unknown cause of retirement and David Coulthard in the second Red Bull did not take part after the front suspension on the Red Bull once again shattered in the first session. They took this session off to investigate the problem. This is worrying for the Austrian outfit as the suspension seems to be very brittle, having Webber and Coulthard both go out last GP with suspension damage.

Tomorrow looks like it will be a fight between Hamilton and Ferrari, but Ferrari looks to have the pace to take pole. To find out what happens, join the UpdateF1 crew as they bring you the best in qualifying coverage.

Written: Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:53:53