Zoom Alonso fastest in the second free practice session

Fernando Alonso used a set of the super-soft Bridgestone tyres to vault to the top of the timesheets in the second evening practice session at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix. The Renault driver recorded a best lap of 1:45.654s around the 5.067km circuit, just a tenth off Lewis Hamilton’s best time recorded in the earlier session.

Hamilton opted to sit out the final two minutes of the 90-minute session and was pipped by Alonso as the chequered flag flew. Hamilton will however be happy with his best time at less than a tenth of a second off the ultimate pace in what was largely an incident free session.

Felipe Massa, trailing Hamilton by just one point in the championship, was right on the pace again this evening in his Ferrari and was on a very fast lap before a small error sent the Brazilian back to the pits. Massa ended the second session just four-hundredths of a second off Hamilton.

Heikki Kovalainen picked up the pace in this second session and recorded the fourth fastest time in his McLaren while Nico Rosberg impressed again in the Williams Toyota with the fifth fastest time. The FW30 seems especially well suited to this street circuit.

Robert Kubica led the BMW Sauber challenge with the sixth fastest time but Nick Heidfeld was off the pace in the second F1.08 and just 16th some two seconds off the ultimate pace. Heidfeld spent much of the session evaluating the softer option tyre.

Kimi Raikkonen struggled with the balance of his Ferrari as he set the seventh fastest time. The F2008 seemed to suffer from a lack of grip and the defending champion spent much of the session holding various slides as the back end of the car stepped out.

It was another encouraging session for Jenson Button as he was again in the top ten in his Honda ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams and Timo Glock in the leading Toyota. It was another mixed session for the Toyota team with Glock spinning as the chequered flag flew and damaged the front wing on the retaining wall, while Jarno Trulli had no pace again and was a lowly 19th.

Mark Webber was forced to miss the first hour of running as the Red Bull team worked on his RB4, courtesy of his accident in the first session. After a few initial cautious laps Webber was up to speed as he set the 11th best time well ahead of team-mate David Coulthard in 15th.

Nelson Piquet was a disappointing 1.5 seconds off the pace of Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso in 12th position but ahead of Italian Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel in the leading Toro Rosso. Sebastien Bourdais was close to the pace of Vettel on this occasion, but was unhappy with the balance of his STR3.

Giancarlo Fisichella was forced to pit with a gearbox issue on his Force India Ferrari after posting what at the time was the 11th quickest lap. The Italian veteran would later drop down to 17th ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the second Honda, Trulli and Adrian Sutil in the second VJM01.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International