Lewis Hamilton stamped his authority on the Sakhir track today, posting the fastest time of the free practice session as teams completed their preparations ahead of the afternoon qualifying session. However, Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari was hot on his heels, a mere 0.006 seconds behind, just ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica.
Surprise of the day was British driver Anthony Davidson, who finished fifth ahead of Ferrari’s other driver, Felipe Massa. Honda continued to struggle with Button finishing 16th and Barrichello in 18th.
All four Red Bull cars had an eventful morning – Scott Speed in the Toro Rosso ended the session parked up on the track, while Mark Webber made a mistake and went for an excursion off-track. Vinantonio Liuzzi nearly left the pits with a tyre blanket still on and David Coulthard had a miserable morning, slowing to a crawl in the final minutes of the session.
Final free practice times are as follows:
1 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren – 1min32.543
2 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari – 1min32.549
3 Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW – 1min32.652
4 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW – 1min32.755
5 Anthony Davidson (GBR) Super Aguri – 1min32.900
6 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari – 1min32.950
7 Fernando Alonso (ESP) McLaren – 1min33.235
8 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull – 1min33.399
9 Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Renault – 1min33.602
10 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) Renault – 1min33.605
11 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams – 1min33.614
12 Alexander Wurz (AUT) Williams – 1min33.658
13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Toro Rosso – 1min33.700
14 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota – 1min33.724
15 David Coulthard (GBR) Red Bull – 1min33.826
16 Jenson Button (GBR) Honda – 1min34.023
17 Takuma Sato (JPN) Super Aguri – 1min34.082
18 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Honda – 1min34.397
19 Scott Speed (USA) Toro Rosso – 1min34.791
20 Ralf Schumacher (GER) Toyota – 1min35.144
21 Christijan Albers (NED) Spyker – 1min35.395
22 Adrian Sutil (GER) Spyker – 1min35.436
