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The second
Thursday practice was underway with Nico and Kazuki leaving the pit lane
early. Other drivers would join them with Buemi first pout. Webber was still
in the pits saying that he would it would be at least thirty minutes before
he could join the session. Buemi would set the first time with a 1m:23.542.
Piquet was second and Nico third. Bourdais would go fastest with a 1m:23.207
but Buemi would move back to the top. Nico would set a 1m:19.433 to go
fastest. Buemi was second followed by Piquet, Bourdais, Glock, Kazuki,
Heidfeld, Alonso, and Trulli. Nico would improve with a 1m:18.486 while
Kubica would see his session come to an end as he went up the hill his
engine would fail in a plume of smoke.
 Kovalainen was now second followed by Kazuki, 1m:20.213. Bourdais was fourth
and Buemi fifth. Both Ferrari's were out on the circuit along with Button.
Nico's time was set on the softer tyres. Kazuki would pit with an hour and
twenty remaining. Buemi was now third, 1m:19.507, as Nico pitted. Massa
would move past Buemi to take third but he was pushed down the order was
Kovalainen went fastest, 1m:18.361, and Bourdais would move up to third followed by
Buemi, and Button. Raikkonen and Massa were now in third and fourth.
Hamilton would join his team-mate at the front moving into second with a
1m:18.484. His next lap would see him fastest with a 1m:18.124.
Buemi would split the Ferrari's moving up to fifth. Bourdais was now seventh
as Raikkonen went second fastest with a 1m:18.207. Both Red Bull cars were
still in the pits. Kazuki was now in twelfth. Barrichello was down in tenth
while Trulli moved up to sixth, 1m:18.833. Rubens would improve to now be
third, 1m:18.216. Kazuki was back out on the track as Trulli moved up to
second, 1m:18.190. Nico was in seventh and Kazuki sixteenth. Both of the Renault's
were on quick laps and Alonso and Piquet would move into first and second.
Alonso's time was a 1m:17.723. Trulli would split the Renault's with a
1m:17.801. Kazuki was now third, 1m:17.866. This would be fourth as
Barrichello moved into second, 1m:17.660.
Alonso would improve with a 1m:17.362. Now it was Kazuki's turn to move to
the top of the times with a 1m:17.259. Nico was back out on the track.
Kovalainen was now third and Barrichello fourth. Kovalainen would improve to
go fastest with a 1m:16.871 while Alonso moved up to second, 1m:17.073. Nico
was down in ninth. Kazuki was running on the softer tyre. Kazuki would
improve with a 1m:17.259 to be third. Piquet was now fourth, 1m:17.561. Nico
would also improve with a 1m:17.662 to be in sixth. This would become
seventh as Button moved up to fourth, 1m:17.500. Kazuki had pitted with just
over and hour left in the session.
Hamilton was on a quick lap moving from eleventh to fourth, 1m:17.294.
Neither of the Red Bull cars had set a time along with Kubica. Hamilton was
now second with a 1m:16.881. Kazuki was currently in fourth and Nico eighth.
Button was now forth and Raikkonen fifth. Trulli was now up to third,
1m:16.915. Massa was now fastest with a 1m:16.637, running on the harder
tyre. But Hamilton would improve to move ahead of the Ferrari with a
1m:16.523. Kovalainen was third followed by Trulli, Raikkonen, Alonso,
Button, Kazuki, Buemi, and Glock in tenth. Kazuki was back out running
on the softer tyres while Nico had dropped to fourteenth. Raikkonen was
on a quick lap seeing him move up to second, 1m:16.622.
Massa was third followed by Barrichello. Nico was back out with fifty four
minutes remaining. Vettel was able to finally set a time to be sixteenth. He
would improve with a 1m:16.966 to be seventh running on the softer tyre.
Kazuki was now tenth. Massa would have a moment under braking at St Devote.
He was able to get the car back on the track and continue running. Alonso
was up to sixth, 1m:16.911. Kazuki was now eleventh and Nico fifteenth.
Alonso was on the softer tyre. Barrichello was now in second, 1m:16.567.
Kazuki had pitted. The top four were all now in their pits while Kazuki and
Nico were down in fourteenth and sixteenth.
Third placed Raikkonen was back out along with Webber for the first time
after his car was repaired. Both Williams cars were in their pits as
Hamilton came back out. Webber was now seventeenth. Hamilton was fastest in
sector one but would lose time in the rest of the lap. He would lock up his
tyre coming into the braking area coming out of the tunnel. He would miss
the corner while Alonso moved up to second with a 1m:16.552. Hamilton was on
the softer tyre. Raikkonen was now second, 1m:16.540, as Webber move up to
eleventh. Kazuki had returned to the track while he and Nico were in
fifteenth and seventeenth.
Barrichello and Massa were both back out as Hamilton improved his time with
a 1m:16.204. Massa was pushing hard and would move to the top of the times
with a 1m:16.112, again running on the softer tyre. Webber was now sixth,
1m:16.818. Fourth placed Alonso would pit as Massa improved with a
1m:16.109. Both Williams drivers were back out with thirty four minutes left
in the session. Barrichello was now third, 1m:16.444. Kovalainen was now
fastest with a lap time of 1m:15.984. His time at the front would be short
as Barrichello went fastest with a 1m:15.590 also running on the softer
tyres. Nico was able to improve to now be in seventh, 1m:16.684. Kazuki was
sixteenth.
Massa would run wide at St Devote returning to the track while Nico would
improve to be third with a 1m:15.987. This was set running on the harder
tyre. He was able to move up to second with a 1m:15.971. Kovalainen was in
third followed by Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Button, Alonso, Vettel, and
Webber in tenth. With thirteen minutes left Hamilton was on a quick lap but
again would lose time in sector two. Again he would lock up going into the
harbour chicane. He really flat spotted the right front tyre. Kazuki was
still down the order being in sixteenth. Both Williams drivers were out on
the circuit with ten minutes remaining. Despite his moment Hamilton would
improve on his next lap moving into second with a 1m:15.676.
Kazuki was now up to tenth, 1m:16.647. His next lap would see him now in
sixth with a lap time of 1m:16.260. Nico was now fastest, running on the
softer tyre, setting a time of 1m:15.446. But Nico's time would be beaten by
Hamilton with a 1m:15.445. This was just 0.001 ahead of Nico. Nico would go
fastest in sector one as Massa was on a better lap. improving his time with
a 1m:15.832 to be in fourth. Nico would lose some time in the middle sector but would
again in the final one to return to the top of the times with a 1m:15.243.
Vettel was now up to fifth, 1m:15.847. Kazuki had dropped to eighth. As the
final few minutes started Button would improve to be in fourth, 1m:15.774.
The final minute would count down as Nico would run wide at Mirabeau after
having a moment coming down the hill. So with the end of the session Nico
was fastest from Hamilton, Barrichello, Button, Massa, Vettel, Kovalainen,
Raikkonen, Kazuki, and Piquet in tenth. Nico would complete a practice
session on the start grid, the only time that the drivers are allowed to use
the track to practice their starts.
Another positive result for the Williams team with Nico fastest and Kazuki
ninth. Both drivers had dropped down the times but in the later part of the
session were able to use the softer tyres to good effect to set their times.
The big question is whether their Thursday performances translate into a
good performance come Saturday and Sunday. |
