Formula One news

Raikkonen fastest - Coulthard on fire

Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest driver in Friday's first free practice session ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix. The Finn was right ahead of teammate Felipe Massa and Ferrari's title challengers at McLaren; Alonso and Hamilton. Nico Rosberg did well with his Williams in sixth. In the final minutes David Coulthard had to pull over as his car was on fire. The Scotsman got out unharmed fortunately.

The first 90 minutes of testing got underway with 33 degrees Celsius this morning in Istanbul. Most drivers began their Grand Prix weekend as usually with an installation run. After fifteen minutes into the session Spyker F1 driver Sakon Yamamoto clocked the first timed lap. At Spyker the team was unable to race with their B-spec cars, as it didn't make it through the FIA's crash test last week. The team hopes to run the updated Spyker F8-VII in two weeks at Monza.

Both McLaren and Ferrari look strong again. Halfway into the session Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest lap at 1.28.019 followed by Massa in second. Hamilton and Alonso were close behind in third and fifth. Not much later Alonso improved his time and moved up to third, being four tenths of a second faster than his teammate.

Many drivers were searching for grip at the Istanbul track this morning. Drivers such as Heidfeld, Kubica, Barrichello, Sutil and Kovalainen all went off but were able to continue their first free practice session without any problems.

The only driver with a serious problem was David Coulthard. After passing the chequered flag for the end of the session the Scotsman spun his car in the first corner and fans witnessed impressive flames from under his Red Bull Racing car. Coulthard decided to cool down his car by continuing his lap but in the end decided to pull over and let marshals take out the flames that came from under his car.

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