Raikkonen and Massa pour more misery on their rivals as F1 visits Spain.
As expected, the Circuit de Catalunya appears to suit Ferrari. First practice saw Kimi Raikkonen topping the timesheets with his team-mate Felipe Massa close behind. Following on from their dominant performance in Bahrain three weeks ago the prospect of their nearest rivals being able to challenge the red cars looks faint.
Massa suffered two spins on the first day in Barcelona but, nevertheless, emerged just a few hundredths of a second slower than Raikkonen. Behind them came Lewis Hamilton, over half a second adrift.
Ferrari’s dominance aside, the battle between McLaren and BMW Sauber remains as intense as ever. Robert Kubica managed to split the two McLaren’s in first practice while his team-mate Nick Heidfeld ended up ninth.
Renault was given some early encouragement as Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr recorded the sixth and seventh fastest times respectively. David Coulthard managed to get the Red Bull into the top ten but Williams have work to do. Nico Rosberg could only reach 12th fastest while team-mate Kazuki Nakajima languished in 15th.
Toyota had a disappointing session during which both Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock went off track. They will be hoping to recapture their early season form during the remainder of the weekend.
Force India will be happy with their performance. Adrian Sutil finished the session in 16th with Giancarlo Fisichella one place behind. The Toro Rosso’s were off the pace with only the Super Aguri’s lapping slower. As usual, Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson were left propping up the timesheets.
Barcelona may well see the last appearance of Super Aguri. They only made it to the track when Honda agreed to help them out, but the Japanese giant does not plan to provide any further help. Following the collapse of a recent takeover the small team find themselves in a precarious situation.
Ominously for their rivals Ferrari looked very strong on longer runs, suggesting that they may disappear into the distance come the race on Sunday. Pit stops usually play a crucial part in the outcome of races at the Circuit de Catalunya and this year should be no different. Qualifying could see many teams fuelling their cars light to try and gain a good grid position, with overtaking being difficult. With the Ferrari drivers so evenly matched it will be interesting to see who gains the upper hand this weekend. Massa will be keen to make up lost ground on championship leader Raikkonen. Behind them the midfield battle should be a fraught affair.
