Practice Two - Hamilton stays ahead in Shanghai 17 Oct 2008
Lewis Hamilton dealt with his detractors in the best way he knows by completely dominating Friday’s second practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. tThe McLaren driver recorded his 1m 35.750s lap very early in the session, and nobody else got below the 1m 36s mark.
Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet got closest in the dying moments in their Renaults. The Brazilian lapped his in 1m 36.094s before Fernando Alonso deposed him with 1m 36.024s.
Jarno Trulli moved up to fourth for Toyota with 1m 36.159s, and as proof that the times are incredibly close right now in Formula One, he was followed by Red Bull’s Mark Webber (1m 36.375s), Ferrari’s Felipe Massa (1m 36.480s), Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais (1m 36.529s), Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m 36.542s), BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld (1m 36.553s), Williams’ Nico Rosberg (1m 35.556s), Toyota’s Timo Glock (1m 36.615s), BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica (1m 36.775s), McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen (1m 36.797s), Red Bull’s David Coulthard (1m 36.808s), Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel (1m 36.925s) and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima (1m 36.975s).
At the back,Giancarlo Fisichella headed Force India team mate Adrian Sutil with 1m 37.473s to 1m 37.617s, and Jenson Button pushed his Honda round in 1m 37.800s to pip team mate Rubens Barrichello’s 1m 37.904s.
Once again, several drivers made use of run-off areas: Kubica, Alonso, Bourdais, Vettel, Webber and Hamilton all went off course, while Raikkonen, Piquet and Barrichello all got away with spins. Bourdais spun his Toro Rosso into the gravel in the first corner in the final stages, and had to abandon ship.
Though times on a Friday can be confusing as drivers run to differing strategies as teams explore set-ups and conduct tyre evaluation, the mood in the McLaren camp was quietly optimistic after Hamilton’s performance.
