Planet-F1

Fastest lap times: Kimi surprises

Sunday 11th May 2008

Kimi Raikkonen managed to clock the fastest lap time at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday despite a difficult race weekend.

The Finn, who finished in third place, suffered a gearbox problem during practice on Friday and then failed to hit the right notes during qualifying on Saturday.

However, it all came together for the Raikkonen during the middle of the race at Istanbul Park when he clocked 1:26.506.

What makes the Ferrari driver's fastest lap even more impressive is the fact that he raced with a damaged front wing the whole race after colliding with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen on the opening lap.

Lewis Hamilton, who came second behind Felipe Massa in the race, was hot on Raikkonen's heals for the fastest lap. The McLaren driver was pipped for top spot by just 0.023s.

Massa completed the top three with a time of 1:26.666 and was followed by the BMW duo of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld with 1:26.780 and 1:27.219 respectively.

Fernando Alonso's recent improvements continued and the Spaniard was sixth quickest.

Times
01 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:26.506
02 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:26.529
03 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:26.666
04 Robert Kubica BMW 1:26.780
05 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:27.219
06 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:27.280
07 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:27.630
08 Heikki Kovalainen 1:27.640
09 Nico Rosberg Williams 1:27.795
10 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:27.867
11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:27.926
12 David Coulthard Red Bull 1:27.966
13 Jenson Button Honda 1:27.998
14 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:28.017
15 Sebastian Vettel STR 1:28.180
16 Timo Glock Toyota 1:28.303
17 Sebastien Bourdais STR 1:28.745
18 Adrian Sutil Force India 1:28.780