Sports News
Nico Rosberg Wins at Spanish Granx Prix
Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima set the overall fastest times in Friday practice ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
Rosberg's time of 1:21.588 was only 15-100ths of a second faster than his teammate despite suffering a mechanical problem right at the end of the practice session. Both drivers managed to improve on their morning practice result, which also saw both drivers finish in the top 10.
The results should be encouraging for the team which has had a dissapointing start to the season, considering they were one of the three cars to take advantage of the diffuser controversy.
"Today was our first run with the new aero components on the car and they all seemed to work well," said Rosberg. "They're giving us a few tenths extra per lap so we've made definite progress. Everyone has brought new developments here though so we will see how things look in qualifying.
"We also ran some tire comparisons today. It's not obvious which direction will be the right one, so strategy is going to be very important and will have a major impact on the race."
Local favourite Fernando Alonso was third quickest in the Renault while Jenson Button was fourth best overall having set his best time in the morning session. Teammate Rubens Barrichello rounded out the top five.
Button is going after his fourth win in five races this season and after dominating the winter test times in Spain, there are high hopes for the Brawn GP team.
The Red Bull Racing duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were sixth and seventh respectively followed by Jarno Trulli, who set his best time in the Toyota in the morning session. The Toyota duo were actually closer to the bottom of the time charts in the afternoon.
"The car is not perfect and it needs to be a bit more balanced before I am happy with it," said Trulli. "However, I think the track conditions will change for qualifying so I am not too worried."
Robert Kubica, whose had a disappointing start to the year in the BMW-Sauber, managed the ninth best overall time while Nelson Piquet Jr, who endured a difficult afternoon session, rounded out the top 10. The Brazilian, who is hearing rumors about his future at Renault, found himself in the gravel traps on two separate occassions, brushing the wall slightly at the Campsa turn on one off his offs.
Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest of the Ferrari's, setting the 12th best time overall while Felipe Massa could only muster the 18th best time. The team are counting on several upgrades to their car to vault them to the front of the grid this weekend including a new double-decker diffuser, which brings them in-line with the likes of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams.
The McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen found themselves near the bottom of the time sheets as well, posting the 14th and 19th best overall times. A frustrated Hamilton told reporters afterwards that it wasn't likely to get much better over the course of the weekend.
"That is our true pace, as you just saw... it is even worse than I expected," he said. "It is going to be a tough one for sure."
"We tried some upgrades and they are not working for me. There has been no improvement to the car whatsoever."
Adrian Sutil did not take part in the afternoon practice due to a fuel cell issue, leaving him with the slowest time overall which he set in the morning practice.
Sebastien Buemi was limited to just 17 laps in the afternoon practice after a fire broke out in his rear brakes at the start of the session. The Swiss rookie managed to make it back on track and set the 11th best time overall.
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