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After the heavy
rain of the opening Friday practice session the second session would be run
under drier conditions but with the track still wet. Nico Rosberg would
finish the opening session in fifth while team-mate Kazuki Nakajima failed
to set a time after having returned to his pit after having gone off and
into the gravel. With rain still a possibility later in the session
Kovalainen would come out first followed by Glock, Bourdais, Webber, Vettel,
Piquet and Nico. Glock would pit while Kovalainen would straight away look
at setting a time. He would cut the second chicane as he made his way around
the circuit. He would finish with a time of 1m:36.866. Webber was second
with a 1m:38.429, followed by Bourdais, 1m:38.976.
 Vettel was now fastest with a 1m:36.705 but he was beaten by Nico with a
time of 1m:36.296. Bourdais was able to move ahead of Nico with a 1m:35.760.
Webber was now in second with a 1m:36.115. With the track drying out the
times were falling as Bourdais went fastest with a 1m:35.760, only to have
Nico beat him with a 1m:35.663. next it was Kovalainen who was fastest with a
1m:35.010. But Bourdais was able to improve with a 1m:34.819. Kazuki was
down in eighth with a 1m:37.237. Both Raikkonen and Heidfeld were out on the
track. Kovalainen again went fastest with a 1m:34.088. Vettel was now in
second, 1m:34.327. Raikkonen's first lap would see him in sixth, 1m:35.382.
Nico would pit as Raikkonen went fastest with a 1m:33.774. Bourdais was now
second, 1m:33.845.
As the circuit dried it would be Raikkonen who was fastest with a 1m:32.231,
followed by Vettel, 1m:33.028. Massa was now in third with a 1m:33.130.
Bourdais had dropped to fourth with a 1m:33.580. Fifth was Kovalainen
followed by Nico, 1m:34.191, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Webber, and in tenth
Button. The track remained difficult as parts of it were still slippery. With an
hour left in the session only Bourdais was on the track. Only twelve drivers
had set times. Nico was shown, like several other drivers, cutting the
second chicane. Bourdais was able to improve his time with a 1m:32.821 to
move into second. Vettel would join his team-mate while Bourdais went faster
with a 1m:32.082. Several other drivers would also come out including Nico, Webber, Piquet, Glock, and
Trulli.
Nico was in sixth while Kazuki was down in twelfth. Bourdais had pitted.
Those drivers who had come out were on dry tyres as the track conditions had
improved. Vettel was on a quick lap and would finish with a time of
1m:30.638 to move ahead of Glock who had set a time of 1m:31.503. Button was
now third, 1m:31.579. Kazuki was now also out on the track. Webber was now second,
1m:31.424. Piquet was seventh pushing Nico down to eighth. But on his first
lap Nico was able to move into second with a 1m:30.951. This would become
third when Button went fastest with a 1m:28.716. Piquet was now fourth
followed by Webber and Glock. Vettel would improve with a 1m:28.409 to remain first in
the times.
 Button had set a time of 1m:28.956 while Nico had improved with a 1m:29.687.
Kazuki was now sixth with a 1m:30.341. Nico would pit joining just a handful
of drivers in the pit lane. Button would improve with a 1m:28.055. Vettel
was now down a 1m:27.607, remaining fastest. Glock was now third ahead of
Webber and Massa. It was changing very rapidly as the track conditions
improved. Hamilton was now second with a 1m:27.732. Nico was now eighth and
Kazuki eleventh. Kazuki had also pitted. Hamilton would move to the top of
the times with a 1m:26.621. So with just under forty five minutes left the
order was Hamilton from Vettel, Webber, Massa, Button, Coulthard, Glock,
Barrichello, Kovalainen, and in tenth Piquet.
Hamilton would improve with a 1m:25.908. He was fastest by over a second as
Massa moved into second from Kovalainen. Raikkonen was in fourth. Sutil was
sixth, 1m:27.885, followed by Kubica. Nico had returned to the track
currently in seventeenth. Kazuki was in eighteenth. Kubica was now second,
1m:26.489. Massa was now second with a 1m:26.345. team-mate Raikkonen was
able to move ahead of Hamilton with a time of 1m:25.836. Both McLaren's had
pitted. Massa would respond and move ahead of Kimi with a 1m:25.676. But
just as quickly Raikkonen was able to move back to the top of the times with
a 1m:25.566. Hamilton was now third followed by Kubica, Alonso, Sutil,
Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Fisichella, and Coulthard.
Raikkonen would pit while Kubica went second fastest with a 1m:25.499. Massa
had improved his time with a 1m:25.390. Kubica was now fastest with a
1m:25.101. Massa would pit while after making a quick stop Raikkonen was
back out. Massa would also pit very briefly. Heidfeld was now fifth,
1m:26.018. Nico had improved with a 1m:26.590 to be tenth. Kazuki was down
in nineteenth, 1m:28.352. Vettel was now sixth, 1m:26.153. Kubica would spin
at the first chicane but was able to continue. Both Torro Rosso cars were
out on the track with Bourdais now sixth follo2wed by team-mate Vettel. On
his next lap Vettel would move up to second, 1m:25.389. Kubica would pit.
Both McLaren's had returned to the track with Hamilton currently in sixth
and Kovalainen tenth. On his first lap Kovalainen would improve to into
sixth, 1m:25.831.
Nico had dropped to eleventh. Kazuki was now slowest with a time of
1m:27.636. He was 2.5 seconds slower than the fastest time. Kazuki would
improve with a 1m:27.180 but this only saw him move up to eighteenth. Kubica
was back out as Webber moved into sixth, 1m:25.816. Hamilton was now fourth,
1m:25.412, running on the softer dry tyre. Nico was also out on the softer
tyre. Hamilton was now second, 1m:25.272. Kubica would improve his quickest
time with a 1m:24.287. With twenty five minutes left the order was Kubica
from Hamilton, Vettel, Massa, Webber, Raikkonen, Sutil, Kovalainen,
Fisichella, and Heidfeld. Kubica would put in a very quick lap to improve
his time with a 1m:23.931. He was now 1.3 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Nico was back in the pits as Massa
moved into second, 1m:24.728. Massa was also on the softer tyre.
Raikkonen was able to move ahead of his team-mate with a 1m:24.353 as Kubica
pitted. Piquet would spin at the first chicane ending his session having
stuck his car on a kerb. Hamilton was now fourth followed by Vettel. Kazuki
was again slowest but he was joined by some more experienced drivers
including Button and Trulli in eighteenth and nineteenth. Nico was in
twelfth, 1m:25.882. Heidfeld would join his team-mate near the front
improving with a third place time of 1m:24.414. Massa was now fourth
followed by Vettel. Heidfeld would make it a BMW one-two as he moved into
second, 1m:23.947, behind Kubica. Kazuki was back out on the track as Nico
dropped to fifteenth.
Button would make up several placed moving into ninth, 1m:25.464. Heidfeld
would pit while we now had Raikkonen third followed by Massa. Just under
fifteen minutes left as Kazuki was now eighteenth, 1m:26.157. On his next
lap he would improve to thirteenth, 1m:25.631. Nico was also back out on the
track looking to improve on his 1m:25.882. And he would improve by a large
number of places moving into fourth with a 1m;24.110. Nico was also running
the softer dry tyre. Kubica was still fastest as Hamilton returned to the
track. Nico would pit while Kazuki was down in fifteenth. Hamilton was now
fifth with a 1m:24.409. Team-mate Kovalainen was in eighth, 1m:24.861.
Raikkonen would return to the track for the last seven minutes.
Kubica would pit while the Toyota's were in seventeenth and eighteenth.
Alonso was nineteenth. A small improvement for Hamilton with a 1m:24.397,
remaining in fifth. Massa was sixth followed by Vettel while team-mate
Raikkonen was able to move ahead of Kubica with a 1m:23.861 to go fastest.
With the closing minutes only Webber was in the pit lane. Hamilton was now
fourth with a 1m:24.075. Nico was now fifth and Kazuki sixteenth. Nico was
running on the harder dry tyre on his final laps of the session. Everyone
was on the track. Kovalainen was now in seventh, 1m:24.666. Kazuki was on
the soft tyre for his final run.
With the end of the session Nico would remain in fifth while Kazuki remained
in sixteenth. The order was Raikkonen from Kubica, Heidfeld, Hamilton, Nico,
Massa, Kovalainen, Webber, Sutil, and in tenth Vettel. It was a strong
performance from Nico but Kazuki still continues to struggle to get the best
from his car. |
