Free Practice 2 – McLaren’s Surge with Kovalainen

For this second free practice session in Turkey, it’s McLaren with the help of Heikki Kovalainen who takes control of the operations. The Finn sets the fastest time at 1:28.841, closely followed by Fernando Alonso (Renault) at the Istanbul Park circuit. Beyond the 29-minute mark, Robert Kubica (BMW) is in third place.

During a session where the top 16 drivers were within less than 0.8 seconds of each other, Kovalainen led for one third of the race.

Before him, his teammate Lewis Hamilton was the fastest, as he was this morning, but also Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams, who ultimately finished 4th.

Behind the Finn, we find Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica at 0.215 seconds, followed by Nakajima and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) in fifth place. He only completed four laps including installation laps, returning to his pit after half an hour with a problem affecting his driving.

There were no major changes in the standings during the session. Teams worked diligently on their programs. Hamilton complained about the traffic while the Ferrari drivers are not satisfied with their soft tires provided by Bridgestone. They are, moreover, far down in the standings this afternoon. Felipe Massa is 11th and Kimi Räikkönen is even further back in 15th position.

In fact, the soft tires proved to be slower in general across all sectors. Only Alonso, who finished second, was very fast in the first sector but lost a lot of ground in sectors 2 and 3.

The double world champion tried once again to secure first place but without success, he is 6 thousandths behind Kovalainen on his last lap.

Kubica stays in third place, which brings some smiles to the BMW garages. Nakajima finishes fourth after being blocked by Giancarlo Fisichella’s Force India at the last chicane.

Vettel is thus fifth, Jarno Trulli sixth, Nico Rosberg takes seventh place with Williams. Rubens Barrichello is the fastest of the Brawn drivers in eighth position while Jenson Button is 12th. No one doubts that the British team will make its grand return to the forefront tomorrow, Saturday.

Mark Webber and Nelson Piquet complete the top ten. Behind Massa and Button, we find Lewis Hamilton still as inconspicuous, followed by Timo Glock (Toyota). Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld (BMW) follow far behind his teammate perched in third place.

The Force India drivers and then those of Toro Rosso are at the back with a significant gap compared to the top 16.

Free Practice 2 Result – Turkish GP – Friday, June 05, 2009: