Sport

Massa fastest in P1, despite crash
by Niamh O'Mahony, 04 July 2008

Felipe Massa set the early pace in Practice 1 for the British Grand Prix on Friday morning, before crashing his Ferrari rather spectacularly.

Ferrari will struggle to have a chassis ready in time for the Brazilian to take any part in Practice 2, though his best effort of 1:19.575 was still enough for him to finish best of the 90 minutes.

Massa was just one hundredth of a second faster than Heikki Kovalainen, with local favourite Lewis Hamilton third, three hundredths further back.

World Champion Kimi Raikkonen was fourth overall, with Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber fifth and Fernando Alonso sixth, despite problems with his Renault car.

Sebastian Vettel, Nelson Piquet, David Coulthard and Nico Rosberg completed the top ten runners.

Nick Heidfeld was the first man out on track - in what were changeable conditions throughout - but it was not until Vettel emerged almost on the half-hour mark that the first timed lap was recorded.

Raikkonen's first effort easily beat the German's marker, with the Finn dropping into the 1:20s on his second flying lap.

However, despite minor handling issues, Lewis Hamilton went top of the timesheets with one of his opening efforts, all British eyes trained on the McLaren during his run.

The Briton is bettered by Kovalainen and then eventually Massa, the Brazilian earning the wrath of Robert Kubica on one of his runs though.

Shortly before the hour mark, Fernando Alonso pulled off track suffering mechanical issues, while a minute later Massa landed himself into the wall after losing control of his Ferrari into Stowe.

The incident forced the red flags out - after a spin for Timo Glock - and with oil on the track, which was then covered by marshalls with white powder, the rest of the field failed to beat Massa's pre-crash lap.

British Grand Prix - Practice 1 results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap