Kimi Raikkonen set the afternoon practice pace in his Ferrari, underlining the pace of the F2008 demonstrated at Istanbul Park this morning by Felipe Massa. The championship leader recorded a best time of1:27.543s, two-tenths off the ultimate pace this morning.
The 90-minute session started damp following some light rain but after some inspection laps early on, Raikkonen was the first to take to the 5.338km circuit with the standard grooved slick tyres. After missing most of the morning session with gearbox problems, the Finn had a trouble-free run to top the timesheets in his Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton struggled for much of the session in his McLaren; the car looking particularly ‘pointy’ and it was not until the final minutes of the session that a switch to the softer option tyre moved him from fifth position to second, just 0.036s behind Raikkonen.
There were a few off track excursions this afternoon for Felipe Massa who ended this session third fastest, three-tenths off his morning best. The Ferrari seems strong on the harder Bridgestone tyre, while McLaren seem to be able to find additional immediate pace using the softer option.
It was a mixed session for the Red Bull Renault team with David Coulthard recording the fourth fastest time as team-mate Mark Webber completed just four laps before crashing his RB4. Webber, ninth fastest at the time, ran wide exiting turn six and the Red Bull swapped ends and sent him back across the circuit and into the retaining wall. Webber was unhurt in the accident but it was a premature end to his session.
Heikki Kovalainen was fifth fastest in the second McLaren Mercedes and seemed far smoother than Hamilton overall. Kovalainen completed quite a lot of running on the softer tyre, but unlike his team-mate, did not make gains at the end of the session.
Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were sixth and tenth respectively for BMW Sauber, neither challenging those at the top of the timesheets throughout the session while a late run from Jarno Trulli moved him seventh fastest in his Toyota.
Kazuki Nakajima had a productive session in his Williams Toyota, setting the eighth fastest time while team-mate Nico Rosberg had his fastest time disallowed after he cut across the grass mid-lap. Rosberg’s best would have placed him in the top ten, but in the end the German racer had to be content with 13th fastest today. Fernando Alonso set the ninth best time in his Renault while team-mate Nelson Piquet had numerous off-track excursions on his way to 16th.
The tight mid-field pack saw Jenson Button 11th in his Honda ahead of Timo Glock who was another to explore the surrounding run off areas throughout the session. Understeer late in the session forced the Toyota driver wide and on returning to the circuit, the front wing caught the kerbing forcing a stop for repairs.
A rookie error from Giancarlo Fisichella this morning has earned the veteran Italian a three position penalty on the grid. Exiting the pits this morning Fisichella failed to notice that the session had yet to start as he drove through the red light and onto the circuit. This afternoon, Fisichella ran well and was 14th fastest while team-mate Adrian Sutil hit mechanical problems and completed just nine laps and was slowest of all.
Celebrating his record number of starts this weekend, Rubens Barrichello was 15th in the second Honda ahead of Piquet and the Toro Rosso duo of Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais.
