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Saturday October 31, 2009

McLaren driver is fastest in practice session

ABU DHABI: McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen set the fastest time in yesterday’s practice for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Kovalainen, who is widely expected to depart McLaren after tomorrow’s race, set a time of 1:41.307 around the new Yas Marina circuit, edging team-mate Lewis Hamilton by two tenths of a second.

Brawn GP world champion Jenson Button was third fastest, ahead of Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, who was on course to challenge for fastest time before being baulked by another driver on his final flying lap.

Vettel is second in the championship standings, two points ahead of Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello, who was eighth fastest yesterday.

Taking it easy: Jenson Button, who has already won the overall title, was third fastest in his Brawn GP car in yesterday’s practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi, preparing for only his second career race after a debut in the previous round in Brazil, was fifth best, in front of Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi and Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

Second through seventh were separated by just 0.18 of a second, indicating a close race tomorrow on a circuit that creates headaches for engineers, who must balance the need for straight-line speed on the two long straights with downforce in the twisty and technical sections.

Yesterday’s second practice session gave drivers their first opportunity to experience the transition from a twilight start to a finish in the darkness of early evening – mirroring the times of tomorrow’s race.

It appeared to create no problems for the drivers, with generous runoff areas meaning no collisions with tyre walls and no damage to cars. The only casualty was BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica, who blew an engine early in the second session.

The strong performances by Kovalainen and Hamilton showed that McLaren was well poised to hang onto third place in the constructors’ championship ahead of rival Ferrari.

Ferrari, whose drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella could only manage 10th and 17th, respectively, in yesterday’s practice, are one point behind McLaren. — AP

First session: 1. Lewis Hamilton (Bri) McLaren-Mercedes 1:43.939, 2. Jenson Button (Bri) Brawn-Mercedes 1:44.035, 3. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 1:44.153, 4. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn-Mercedes 1:44.207, 5. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:44.667, 6. Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:44.687, 7. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 1:44.688, 8. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:44.805, 9. Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:44.955, 10. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:44.958, 11. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:44.988, 12. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:45.123, 13. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:45.649, 14. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:45.679, 15. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:45.704, 16. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:45.865, 17. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita), Force India-Mercedes 1:46.239, 18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari 1:46.267, 19. Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 1:46.364, 20. Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1:46.411.

Second session: 1. Kovalainen 1:41.307, 2. Hamilton 1:41.504, 3. Button 1:41.541, 4. Vettel 1:41.591, 5. Kobabyashi 1:41.636, 6. Buemi 1:41.683, 7. Webber 1:41.684, 8. Barrichello 1:41.831, 9. Rosberg 1:41.931, 10. Raikkonen 1:41.987, 11. Sutil 1:42.180, 12. Nakajima 1:42.245, 13. Heidfeld 1:42.278, 14. Trulli 1:42.409, 15. Liuzzi 1:42.530, 16. Alonso 1:42.782, 17. Fisichella 1:42.932, 18. Grosjean 1:43.021, 19. Alguersuari 1:43.022, 20. Kubica 1:43.708.


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