Kimi Sets Fastest Time On Second Day At Paul Ricard
May 16, 2008
Shell
Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time on the second day of testing at Paul Ricard in France as Formula One teams wrapped up preparations for the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix.
Over the course of the last two days, the French circuit was configured to simulate conditions for the street race through the principality. Teams will now use a revised setup in order to simulate track conditions for the Canadian Grand Prix next month.
Raikkonen’s best time - a 1m 05.381 s - was enough to hold off McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, who finished a tenth adrift of his Finnish compatriot.
Raikkonen covered a total of 105 laps, and with the French circuit set-up to simulate the twists and turns of the forthcoming Monaco Grand Prix, high downforce Monte Carlo preparations remained the order of the day. The world champion will hand over the F2008 to team mate Felipe Massa on Friday.
Raikkonen’s time of 1:05.381 was less than 1-10th of a second quicker than Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren. Teammate Lewis Hamilton finished with the third fastest time over the course of the last two days. Hamilton was quickest on Wednesday in his turn around the course.
Robert Kubica was third fastest on the day and fourth quickest overall. Rounding out the top five was David Coulthard in the Red Bull Racing machine, 7-10ths off the pace set by Raikkonen.
