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Revival of the Reds

Friday free practice in Malaysia began as a carbon copy of the opening session in Australia, with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima heading the timesheet in the first 90 minutes.

Again, nobody ran in earnest for the opening twenty minutes, but when they did it was busy and frantic, with the Williams duo leaving things right until the last minute before eclipsing the Brawn pair of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.

Continuing the symmetrical look were the Ferrari’s of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in fifth and sixth, while Lewis Hamilton found some respite from the weekend’s saga with a handy seventh.

The second session was more of a surprise, with Raikkonen and Massa taking command for Maranello. Darkening skies led many to get as much running in as possible, and with just a tenth between them, and a further tenth back to the next man, the Ferrari’s looked well suited to the Sepang circuit.

Into third went Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull, the car again showing promise as Mark Webber lined up fifth with Rosberg between them, and the Brawns – Barrichello ahead this time – duly settled in sixth and seventh positions. Half a second covers this group, with Nakajima next and the McLarens of Kovalainen and Hamilton in ninth and 11th positions – the latter still only eight tenths of a second off the pace.

Nelson Piquet was best Renault in tenth, with Fernando Alonso managing 15th in the second session, while Toyota had a quiet day with Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock both outside the top ten in both sessions. BMW, too, seem to be at odds here, with neither Robert Kubica nor Nick Heidfeld managing anything notable, while Force India and Toro Rosso look to be the stragglers, despite fine efforts, in particular from the impressive Sebastien Buemi.

Written: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:22:27