Malaysian Grand Prix: Practice 2 Round Up
By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
April 6 2007
Toyota had a reasonable if not stunning result in Second Practice Session for the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix with Ralf Schumacher finishing 8th and Jarno Trulli 16th.
Both Toyota's were in the top 10 in the First Session but Jarno was obviously pacing himself in the searing Malaysian heat whilst Ralf moved up one spot from his first session to 8th place.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was once again top of the tee in the Ferrari in the Second Session. The Brazilian's time was slightly slower than his first session effort but still setting a reasonable time of 1:35.780.
In the earlier session Mclaren had been mixing it with the Ferrari's but this time it was Renault who had drastically turned round the performance. Giancarlo Fisichella was second ahead of rookie team mate Heikki Kovalainen.
Autralian GP Winner Kimi Raikkonen was once again 4th in the second Ferrari but with rumours going round that the early Championship leader might need an engine change was the flying Finn taking it easy?
Toyota power rounded out the top 6 but it was in the back of Williams chassis'. Nico Rosberg pipping his vastly more experienced team mate Alexander Wurz. The Austrian however did sit out the first session.
BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica was 7th ahead of Ralf with new British Superstar Lewis Hamilton in 9th spot. The Mclaren driver will be looking to repeat his podium of Australia. German Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW-Sauber rounded out the top 10.
Reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso was the meat in a Red Bull Racing Sandwich. The Mclaren ace was 12th. Mark Webber was the faster of the Red Bull's in 11th spot with British Team Mate David Coulthard 13th.
Takuma Sato kept up Super Aguri's good form in 14th beating Honda factory driver Jenson Button who was 15th with the struggling Honda team.
Vitantonio Liuzzi was the faster of the Scuderia Toro Rosso's in 17th ahead of the fourth British Driver in the field Anthony Davidson who was 18th in the Super Aguri.
Into the bottom four and German Adrian Sutil was 19th for Spyker ahead of American Scott Speed in the second of the Toro Rosso Cars. Rubens Barrichello completed Honda's embarrasing run in 21st place beating only Spyker's Christijan Albers who was 22nd and last. The Dutchman however did suffer a major blow out on the pit straight bringing out the red flags for a period.
Friday, second free practice
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Tires | Time | Laps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | F. Massa |  |
Ferrari |  |
1:35.780 | 34 |
| 2 | G. Fisichella |  |
Renault | |
1:35.910 | 36 |
| 3 | H. Kovalainen |  |
Renault | |
1:36.106 | 37 |
| 4 | K. Räikkönen | |
Ferrari | |
1:36.160 | 33 |
| 5 | N. Rosberg |  |
Williams | |
1:36.523 | 31 |
| 6 | A. Wurz |  |
Williams | |
1:36.621 | 21 |
| 7 | R. Kubica |  |
BMW | |
1:36.717 | 18 |
| 8 | R. Schumacher | |
Toyota | |
1:36.760 | 28 |
| 9 | L. Hamilton |  |
McLaren | |
1:36.797 | 30 |
| 10 | N. Heidfeld | |
BMW | |
1:36.862 | 25 |
| 11 | M. Webber |  |
Red Bull | |
1:36.906 | 18 |
| 12 | F. Alonso |  |
McLaren | |
1:37.041 | 26 |
| 13 | D. Coulthard | |
Red Bull | |
1:37.203 | 25 |
| 14 | T. Sato |  |
Super Aguri | |
1:37.282 | 30 |
| 15 | J. Button | |
Honda | |
1:37.578 | 29 |
| 16 | J. Trulli | |
Toyota | |
1:37.712 | 34 |
| 17 | V. Liuzzi | |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | |
1:37.855 | 26 |
| 18 | A. Davidson | |
Super Aguri | |
1:38.334 | 27 |
| 19 | A. Sutil | |
Spyker F1 | |
1:38.419 | 28 |
| 20 | S. Speed |  |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | |
1:38.650 | 20 |
| 21 | R. Barrichello | |
Honda | |
1:38.713 | 20 |
| 22 | C. Albers |  |
Spyker F1 | |
1:39.807 | 23 |
So onwards to Saturday and of course Qualifying. Toyota look in reasonable shape with both Jarno and Ralf so no less than a top 10 will do with both cars!