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Lewis Hamilton
(Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) set the marker on the opening night of running
for the Singtel Singapore Grand Prix by using Bridgestone's soft compound
Potenza tyre to set Friday's fastest lap time at the 5.07km Marina Bay
Street Circuit, as Formula One cars ran at night for the first time at
the fifteenth round of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Hamilton set his time - a 1min 45.518secs - in the first of the two
90-minute practice sessions, both of which took place after sunset and under
artificial lights. Hamilton was eight hundredths of a second faster than
next quickest, Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro). Raikkonen went
third fastest.
In the later practice session, ING Renault F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso
set the quickest time, using the super soft compound to set a time of 1min
45.654secs. Alonso was almost a tenth quicker than Hamilton, who also set
his fastest time using the super soft in this session. Massa went third
fastest.
Today was the first time that Formula One cars used the new Marina Bay
Street Circuit, and the first time F1 cars have run at night to practice for
a Grand Prix.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development,
said:
"The Marina Bay Street Circuit is certainly an interesting and challenging
track for Bridgestone and all the competitors on our tyres. This evening the
circuit started very dirty, as we would expect from a new facility,
especially a street course. The grip level from the track improved rapidly
through the first session, however, the fastest time seen today was
some way off our predictions. Normally we would see an improvement in lap
times in the second session and from the softer compound tyre but we did not
see this today. This is perhaps because there is still not sufficient rubber
laid down on the track and also due to team strategies in the session as
they learnt this new track. The soft tyre worked well with conditions as
they were today. We have a lot of data to analyse and tomorrow's running
should give us a better idea of what to expect in Sunday's race." |
