Ferrari man paces opening practice at Istanbul Park.
Felipe Massa may not be everyone's tip for a third straight Turkish Grand Prix victory this weekend, but did little to suggest that won't be a frontrunner by topping the times after 90 minutes of free practice on Friday morning.
After a slow start, caused by a track surface still slightly damp after overnight rain, Massa installed himself at the head of the timesheets, working his a way down to best lap of 1min 27.323secs. The time was a full second faster than the Brazilian had managed in lapping second fastest in the equivalent session last August, despite the green surface giving up little grip to the now 20 runners.
Moving the race weekend to May has resulted in cooler - and more comfortable - conditions for all concerned but, armed with the harder end of Bridgestone's tyre range, generating grip was the main focus for the teams.
Massa eventually headed the rest by just over a tenth of a second, but it was not Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in second spot, as had been expected. Instead, the world champion brought up the rear of the field, having completed just three laps before retiring to the pits for attention to his F2008.
In his place was countryman Heikki Kovalainen, the McLaren man clearly showing that there were no lingering after-effects of his Spanish GP shunt two weeks ago. The Finn, who had to pass an FIA medical before being allowed back in the cockpit, comfortably out-gunned team-mate Lewis Hamilton, as the Briton lapped just over four-tenths shy of Massa's benchmark. Kovalainen, however, was among the few to try the softer tyre compound, setting his best time on the striped rubber.
Fernando Alonso suggested that Renault may again be a threat in Turkey, slotting into fourth place while rookie team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr - a GP2 racewinner at Istanbul Park - put the second R28 into the top ten.
Alonso was the final man to get within a second of Massa's pace, with Jenson Button, Kazuki Nakajima, Nick Heidfeld, Rubens Barrichello and Timo Glock rounding out the top ten. Glock's Toyota team-mate Jarno Trulli took eleventh, a spot ahead of the second BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica.
In the absence of Super Aguri, Toro Rosso was demoted to the role of tailender, saved only from the ignominy of last place by Raikkonen's woes. Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel duly filled 18th and 19th places respectively, but were within spitting distance of Red Bull stable-mates Mark Webber and David Coulthard - all four lapping in the 1min 30s -despite having to use the venerable STR2B for one last weekend.
Force India moved ahead of the various Red Bull entries to fill 14th and 15th places, just behind Nico Rosberg.
