Italian GP P2: Nakajima improves while Rosberg struggles

The second Friday practice for the 2009 Italian Grand Prix would see the drivers quickly come out to set a time with the track becoming very busy. Early in the session Nico would go fastest with a 1m:29.578s. He would be passed by Kovalainen who was then passed by Kubica. Kovalainen would continue his run moving back to the top in 1m:26.075. Trulli was second with 1m:26.991. Webber was now third while Liuzzi was fastest with a 1m:25.893. Kovalainen was able to move ahead of Liuzzi with a 1m:25.361 to move to the top of the times. Button was now fifth but would improve to be second ahead of Liuzzi. Kubica was fourth from Raikkonen, Webber, Heidfeld, Trulli, Kazuki, and Alonso in tenth.

Nico was down in fifteenth while both Williams drivers had pitted. Barrichello was now up to second with a 1m:25.582. He would improve with a 1m:25.513 but remained second. With an hour and thirteen minutes left in the ninety minute session only three drivers were on the track. Glock was now up to fifth with a 1m:25.899. After his limited amount of running in the earlier practice Vettel was up to fourth with a 1m:25.722. Kazuki was now twelfth and Nico sixteenth. Liuzzi was now fifth ahead of Glock. Vettel would run wide at the Roggia chicane seeing him return to his pit.

Kubica was in seventh as the track started to get busier after a period that saw most drivers pit. Glock was now third with a time of 1m:25.688 as Grosjean moved up to sixth. Heidfeld was now fastest with a 1m:24.902 while Hamilton moved into third with a 1m:25.405. Kazuki and Nico were in sixteenth and seventeenth. Grosjean would improve to be fifth followed by Glock, Button, Vettel, Alonso, and Liuzzi. Sutil was now up to third with a 1m:25.399 followed by Hamilton and Liuzzi. Raikkonen was now up to sixth followed by Barrichello. Kazuki was now fifteenth while Nico had dropped to be eighteenth, 1m:26.308. Nico was out on the track running on the softer tyre while at the front Sutil was now second with a 1m:24.809.

Kovalainen and Hamilton were third and fourth. Nico had pitted while Kazuki was back out on the track. Raikkonen would improve to be fifth, 1m:25.341, seeing Liuzzi sixth and Barrichello seventh. On the softer tyre Trulli was up to fourth, 1m:25.298, but Kovalainen would move ahead of him. Barrichello would also move ahead of Trulli into fifth seeing Trulli sixth. Raikkonen would take fourth as team-mate Fisichella moved up to eleventh with a 1m:25.543. Trulli would also improve to be third, 1m:25.072. Nico had returned to the track as Kubica was now sixth but this became seventh as Barrichello moved up to fifth, 1m:25.140. Kubica and Barrichello were both on the softer tyres.

Running on the softer tyre Kazuki would run wide at the Parabolica kicking up lots of dust. He was able to continue running over the gravel and back onto the track. Kazuki was now seventeenth and Nico nineteenth, both drivers way of the pace. With just over forty minutes left in the session only six drivers weer on the track, including both Williams. Nico had improved one place to be eighteenth. Kubica was able to move ahead of Heidfeld with a 1m:24.622 but Sutil would move ahead of the BMW's with a 1m:24.314 to be fastest. Alonso was on a quick lap, fastest in sector one, seeing him move to ninth running on the harder tyre.

Hamilton was now fifth, 1m:25.099, while Kazuki had improved to be fourteenth, 1m:25.609. Nico was still in eighteenth. Hamilton was on the softer tyre for his fifth placed run. Kazuki had pitted while Nico continued his run as more drivers returned to the track. Nico would pit with just over thirty minutes left in the session. Button was down in sixteenth as Glock moved up to fourth, 1m:24.983. Trulli was fifth from sixth placed Hamilton. Kazuki was now sixteenth and Nico eighteenth. As other drivers improved Kazuki and Nico were now eighteenth and nineteenth.

Glock would lower his time with a 1m:24.797 but remained fourth. Alguersuari was now in seventh, 1m:25.003. Both Williams drivers were in their pits with twenty six minutes remaining. Hamilton was fifth while Liuzzi was up to sixth. With Webber moving into nineteenth Nico went slowest as he returned to the track. Raikkonen would use the softer tyre to jump up to fifth, 1m:24.898. Webber was now eighteenth seeing Kazuki and Nico slowest. Nico was out on the softer tyres and was on a quicker lap seeing him move up to thirteenth, 1m:25.215. Kazuki was now slowest and still in his pit. Glock was now third, 1m:24.634, followed by Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Buemi, Hamilton, Liuzzi, and Alguersuari.

With twenty minutes remaining Kazuki was back out while Webber moved up to eleventh. This would see Nico drop to fourteenth. Kazuki was on the softer tyre and would improve to jump up to eleventh, 1m:25.090. Nico was now down in fifteenth. On his next lap Kazuki was up to a great sixth, 1m:24.829. Nico had again pitted so with fifteenth minutes left it was still Sutil fastest from Kubica, Glock, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Kazuki, Buemi, Hamilton, Liuzzi, and Trulli in tenth. Fisichella was now slowest while Vettel was one place ahead. Kazuki would miss one of the chicanes and would pit still in sixth. Button was down in seventeenth.

Kovalainen would improve to be fifth, 1m:24.714, running on the softer tyre. This would see Kazuki drop to seventh. Kovalainen was fastest in sector one seeing him set a time of 1m:24.482 to move up to second. Grosjean was now third, 1m:24.518, running on the softer tyre. With just six minutes left only three drivers were not on the track, one being Kazuki. Vettel was on a quick lap as Kazuki returned to the track. Vettel could only manage eighteenth with Button nineteenth. Kazuki was now in eighth and Nico sixteenth. On his next lap Grosjean would move to the top of the times with a 1m:24.163 while Alonso was now second, 1m:24.297. But Sutil would respond to be second, 1m:24.295.

Grosjean would pit while Sutil went fastest with a 1m:23.924. Kazuki was now ninth while Nico could not improve and remained down the order in seventeenth, 1.2 seconds off the pace. The session would end with Sutil fastest from Grosjean, Alonso, Kovalainen, Kubica, Glock, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Kazuki, and Buemi in tenth. A good result from Kazuki at a race weekend that really needs to see him achieve a good result. As for Nico both Friday practice session have seen him struggle.

Pos  Driver	  Team			     Time     Laps
  1.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.924 28
 2.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:24.163 31
 3.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:24.297 35
 4.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:24.482 41
 5.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:24.622 40
 6.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:24.634 36
 7.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:24.693 34
 8.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:24.796 39
 9.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:24.799 36
10.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.884 44
11.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:24.902 32
12.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:24.921 39
13.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:24.967 40
14.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:24.979 25
15.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:25.003 34
16.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:25.140 35
17.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:25.215 38
18.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:25.386 27
19.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:25.424 32
20.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:25.543 36