Raikkonen quickest in practice 1 - Turkey
Flying Finn Kimi Raikkonen put McLaren-Mercedes-Benz at the top of the timesheets in Friday morning's opening free practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix with a spectacular late effort at the new Istanbul circuit
His best lap in 1:28.315 was set in the dying minutes of the session and eclipsed Michael Schumacher by 0.462 seconds at the end of an intriguing session in which race drivers, rarely, dominated the times.
Jenson Button was third quickest for Honda, as the top three drivers completed only 14 laps between them with all their times coming in the last ten minutes of a session held in 30 degrees heat.
Alex Wurz had been quickest for Williams with a 1:28.959 until the top three beat his time and he finished the session in fourth place. He was fractionally ahead of Honda's Anthony Davidson.
Davidson was the only major casualty of practice when his Honda engine blew 11 minutes before the end of the hour. Davidson stopped on the track before Turn Seven, where the marshals moved his smoking Honda. He was also running a one-off bespoke livery for Turkish sponsor Petrol Ofisi.
The session also marked the debut of BMW Sauber's new third driver Sebastian Vettel. He set the eighth quickest time with a 1:29.964.
The session was unusually busy for a Friday morning and a number of drivers ran wide at the tight Turn Nine, including Robert Doornbos of Red Bull, Jarno Trulli in his Toyota and Super Aguri's third driver Franck Montagny.
Both Renault drivers Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella carried out installation laps but failed to set a time. Italian Giorgio Mondini completed the most laps in his third driver role for Midland this weekend.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:28.315 5 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:28.777 + 0.462 4 3. Button Honda (M) 1:28.785 + 0.470 5 4. Wurz Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:28.959 + 0.644 24 5. Davidson Honda (M) 1:29.193 + 0.878 19 6. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:29.376 + 1.061 5 7. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (M) 1:29.780 + 1.465 6 8. Vettel BMW-Sauber (M) 1:29.964 + 1.649 25 9. Doornbos Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:30.391 + 2.076 16 10. Jani Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:30.576 + 2.261 22 11. Barrichello Honda (M) 1:30.838 + 2.523 5 12. Mondini MF1-Toyota (B) 1:30.846 + 2.531 28 13. Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:31.416 + 3.101 5 14. Albers MF1-Toyota (B) 1:31.475 + 3.160 10 15. Monteiro MF1-Toyota (B) 1:31.566 + 3.251 10 16. Montagny Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:31.814 + 3.499 13 17. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:31.904 + 3.589 5 18. Yamamoto Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:32.212 + 3.897 11 19. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) 1:32.497 + 4.182 6 20. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) No time 5 21. Trulli Toyota (B) No time 2 22. Fisichella Renault (M) No time 1 23. Alonso Renault (M) No time 1 24. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) No time 1 25. Kubica BMW-Sauber (M) No time 1 26. Klien Red Bull-Ferrari (M) No time 1 27. Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari (M) No time 1 28. Webber Williams-Cosworth (B) 29. Rosberg Williams-Cosworth (B) All Timing Unofficial
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