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Saturday April 4, 2009

Raikkonen leads Prancing Horse one-two in practice

By LIM TEIK HUAT and ERIC SAMUEL

FORMER world champion Kimi Raikkonen showed Ferrari’s determination not relinquish their domination in the Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix when he led the team to one-two finish at the end of the second practice at the Sepang Circuit yesterday.

The Finn, world champion in 2007, had a trouble-free run in the second session in the afternoon to post the quickest lap of 1:35.707.

His Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa posted the second fastest time of 1:35.832 to send out a chilling warning that Ferrari have regained their form after the disappointing outing in Melbourne last week.

Ferrari had their worst start to a season in more than 15 years when neither driver finished in the points in the season-opening race in Melbourne.

Preparing for the worst: Ferrari crew practising changing rain tyres in the pit before Friday's practice sessions. — AP

Williams driver Nico Rosberg, who was fastest in all three practice sessions in Melbourne, pulled off a repeat show by topping the timesheets in the morning session with 1:36.260.

But it was last year’s Malaysian GP winner Raikkonen who stayed cool despite an early setback in the morning session.

Raikkonen was forced to end his campaign after the cockpit of his car was filled with smoke towards the end of the first session. It is believed to have been caused by the over-heating of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).

“We had a problem with the KERS in the morning, which cost us a bit of time, but we managed to make up for it in the afternoon.

“We felt that the situation here could be different to Melbourne, but it is still too early to say where we are up against the opposition.

“What we can be sure of is that when the car runs trouble-free, we are competitive.

“We hope we can do a good job in tomorrow’s (today’s) qualifying,” said Raikkonen, clearly hinting that a sixth Malaysian GP triumph tomorrow is surely not beyond their reach.

Compared to Melbourne, the wider and long straights at Sepang have always played to Ferrari’s hands, a fact that Massa concurred with.

“The situation seems different compared to Australia, at least in terms of how the tyres operate. There is more grip and the softer tyres work well, even over a long distance,” said Massa. “The handling of the car improved continuously and I could set some great times.

“Looking at the timesheet today, there is a slight feeling of relief even if it has to be treated with caution. But the whole team are trying their best.”

The fight is certainly far from over as Brawn GP are not that far off the pace.

Rubens Barrichello, runner-up in Melbourne, was sixth with 1:36.161, followed by championship leader Jenson Button (1:36.254).

Jenson, who gave Brawn GP a dream F1 debut when he won the Melbourne race from pole position, is not discounting their chances of another win.

“We completed some useful running today (yesterday) to work on improving the balance of the car.

“My biggest problem was that we are locking the tyres and brakes very easily ... so we need to have a good look at this.

“We’re not quite there yet but we are going in the right direction. I am confident we will achieve the optimum set-up ready for qualifying tomorrow (today).”

McLaren’s world champion Lewis Hamilton struggled in the practice sessions yesterday and only finished 11th quickest at the end of second practice, a day after he was stripped of his third-placed finish in Melbourne after an FIA inquiry ruled that he deliberately provided misleading information.

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