Massa Fastest in Practice 2 - Malaysia
Brazilian Felipe Massa finished fastest in the second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix as temperatures rose here Friday in the build up to the second race of the season
Massa failed to match the time set by Ricardo Zonta in the morning session as temperatures rose towards 40 degrees Celsius but his lap of 1:35.608 was good enough to put him on top of the times for Sauber.
He finished 0.012 seconds clear of McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya, whose teammate Kimi Raikkonen recovered from a spin to finish fourth just behind Brazilian Toyota driver Zonta.
Ralf Schumacher finished fifth in the second Toyota while Australian Grand Prix winner Giancarlo Fisichella finished sixth fastest after opting not to go out in the first session to conserve his engine life.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, like Raikkonen, recovered from an early spin and was able to finish seventh fastest with Briton Jenson Button eighth in his BAR-Honda.
Fernando Alonso, who like his Renault teammate Fisichella failed to set a time in the morning running, finished ninth and David Coulthard completed the top ten for Red Bull Racing.
Massa made the early running in his Sauber and led Zonta and Klien after seven minutes while Tiago Monteiro spun his Jordan at turn 14 but was able to recover and return to the pits.
Not long later McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen spun at turn seven and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello then spun his Ferrari at turn 11 after 15 minutes but both were able to get back out later in the session after their cars were recovered.
With 20 minutes gone Button led the times with a lap of 1:35.992, almost two seconds slower than the best time set in the morning session by Zonta but good enough to put him 0.708 seconds ahead of second-placed Massa.
After setting an impressive third fastest time in the morning session Vitantonio Liuzzi spun his Red Bull Racing machine on 29 minutes in a repeat of his feat in the season-opening race in Australia and he was forced to abandon his car.
Massa returned to the top of the times and sat 0.384 seconds ahead of Button as the session headed into its final quarter with times still more than one-and-a-half seconds slower than those set in the morning session.
Mark Webber spent the session in the Williams garage and failed to complete a time.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Massa Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:35.608 19
2. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:35.620 + 0.012 13
3. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:35.677 + 0.069 30
4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:35.719 + 0.111 6
5. R.Schumacher Toyota (M) 1:35.838 + 0.230 16
6. Fisichella Renault (M) 1:35.841 + 0.233 16
7. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:35.949 + 0.341 7
8. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:35.992 + 0.384 19
9. Alonso Renault (M) 1:36.103 + 0.495 15
10. Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:36.575 + 0.967 20
11. Trulli Toyota (M) 1:36.841 + 1.233 18
12. Klien Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:36.968 + 1.360 19
13. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:37.033 + 1.425 31
14. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:37.044 + 1.436 18
15. Heidfeld Williams-BMW (M) 1:37.067 + 1.459 17
16. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:37.270 + 1.662 22
17. Doornbos Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:37.878 + 2.270 23
18. Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas (M) 1:38.121 + 2.513 19
19. Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:38.855 + 3.247 21
20. Liuzzi Red Bull-Cosworth (M) 1:39.349 + 3.741 11
21. Monteiro Jordan-Toyota (B) 1:39.755 + 4.147 21
22. Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:40.940 + 5.332 19
23. Albers Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:41.156 + 5.548 16
24. Webber Williams-BMW (M) No Time 2
All timing unofficial
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