Istanbul Park, 5 June 2009

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who have won all previous editions of the Turkish Grand Prix, came out of the three hours of free practice for Sunday’s race in eleventh and fifteenth places respectively. The Brazilian’s best lap was just over half a second slower than the best time of the day. He completed a total of 60 laps, two more than the Finn. A dirty track and windy conditions mean it’s even harder than usual to analyse today’s performance, but the two Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers were happy with their day’s work, which covered all the usual Friday parameters as well as being the first opportunity to track validate some new aero updates. With the times extremely close, there was no real clue regarding what we can expect in tomorrow afternoon’s qualifying, but the steady progress made with the F60 over the past two race weekends is expected to continue here. And of course, Felipe will be keen to add to his hat-trick of Turkish pole positions, but it’s clear from the current state of play, that he will have his work cut out.






After heavy storms for much of yesterday, the good weather scheduled for the rest of the weekend, prevailed all day. Heikki Kovalainen ended the day fastest for McLaren Mercedes, ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Renault. These two and Nico Rosberg, who was quickest for Williams Toyota in the morning, were the only men to break the 1m 29 second barrier around the demanding Istanbul Park anti-clockwise circuit. Third was Robert Kubica in the BMW, with Kazuki Nakajima fourth for Williams, followed by Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull Renault. Jarno Trulli completed the top six for Toyota.