The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen has dominated the first practice session in Turkey. Raikkonen s first attempts were incredibly quick and he set some storming times at the start of the session, over eight tenths faster than the rest of the field. Team-mate Felipe Massa closed in on Raikkonen slowly throughout the session but was unable to match his team-mates pace, finishing 0.403 seconds behind.
It seems that the McLarens have no answer the pace of the Ferraris with Alonso taking third, a full 1.2 seconds behind Raikkonen. Hamilton s pace at the track is a bit of an unknown quantity. The Brit finished fourth, however he only completed 10 laps of the track before a mechanical problem ended his session prematurely.
Renault finished fifth with Hekki Kovalainen, and the Williams of Nico Rosberg rounded out the top six. It doesn t look like it s going to be a good weekend for Toyota with both drivers spinning. Jarno Trulli span early on in the session at the final complex; Ralf Schumacher went off at Turn One, and then later on at Turn Four.
Coulthard was also having a torrid time. The Scot spun on Turn One on his last lap. After rejoining the track, a flash fire developed under his car and he had to stop whilst the fire was put out by marshals.
Unofficial times for Practice 1 at Istanbul Park:
