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I'm sure you mean Second.

Yes I did. Sorry, I was in a hurry to attend a wedding. stupid:

couldnt the chap just push some gravel under the rear wheels and try moving it again ??!!

or how about "on demand" front wheel drive for such tricky situations !

Well getting off from gravel is very tricky I guess. I mean even if they would have had pushed some gravel under the rear wheels, it would just throw it off when given some throttle as the wheels would just keep on digging in I feel. He was really benched very well on the gravel. Would have been tough I feel.

Life without traction control just gets better. Pity it didnt rain :)

The whole point of the gravel pit is to slow the car down in a hurry to prevent the driver from slamming in to the barrier.

I can't think of any surface that can slow a car down first and then provide enough traction to get out of there!

I guess that's why they call it the gravel pit and NOT gravel road :).

There's one thing about yesterday's race that I still cannot understand. Hammy was just behind Webber when he pitted on lap 16. Hammy ran for 3 laps longer and pitted on lap 19. He lost over 10 seconds in the pits, yet when he came back out, he slotted in just behind Webber. This means that in these three laps, he gained an average of 3 seconds per lap. Did this actually happen? Does anyone have the laptimes from laps 15 to 20?

agree: that remains a mystery to me as well. He came in from 9th position to 5th position pretty quickly. Either he is a damn good driver to cover the positions so quickly or there was something i could not understand

Nice to see Ferrari back in winning ways, if not for Massa's mistake, it would have been Ferrari 1 - 2!

This season expect good fight from BMW & Toyota!

One possible explanation is that Webber had a disastrous out lap or even had an incident that we did not see on TV. And yes, Hamilton did put his foot down before he pitted.

Lesser fuel load would have made the car lighter; hence the flying laps before the pit stops which would have eventually helped in covering his positions after the pit stop.

Well good point there. Its a bit tricky, but I feel here is what might(in quotes) have happened.

Webber pitted on lap 16. He was 4th at the time and Hamilton was 5th. Kubica was 3rd and was pulling away from the pack, which included Webber, Hamilton and Trulli eating down on each others throat. So after Webber pitted, Hamilton had a clear track ahead and also get cleaner air, which was vital for Hamilton as he was suffering due to the car cornering being poor as it was lacking downforce. He jumped up into 4th place.

Lap17 Massa and Trulli pit. This makes life a bit better for Hamilton as he doesnt have Trulli in his mirrors and can concentrate on his lap times. Also with Massa in the pits, Hamilton gained another position, now on 3rd. Now, in the mean time Webber had joined back in 12th place in a lot of traffic. Now Webber had, Piquet, Button, Coulthard and Alonso ahead of him, all of whom still had to pit. Alonso, Coulthard and Button were battling each other and Webber and Piquet were slightly behind the pack. Piquet was fighting Webber well as his car was lighter on fuel load (as he had ran more laps) and Webber had just pitted, so assuming his new tyres and heavy fuel load, guess his out laps were poor and couldnt push hard. To make the matter even more tricky, Trulli joined the race ahead of Piquet and Webber battle. So now Webber had some serious traffic ahead, most on lighter fuel load, who hadnt pitted, exception being Trulli, who had good race pace.

Lap 18 Raikkonen pitted. This put Kubica in the lead followed by Hamilton. Even though he was quite behind Kubica, knowing the fact that he has to pit soon, its every drivers natural instinct to push harder. So guess Hamilton put down some quick lap time.

Lap 19 Hamilton pits in. At the current rate, I still remember the commentator Andy saying that Hamilton looks as if he will take 6th position. His problematic pit, which was around 20 seconds I guess, so this costed him 6 more positions and he joined in back in 12th position. Well they didnt show Hamilton exiting the pits, so didnt know whether he joined in directly Webber or not. I mean his track position was 12th, but I am not sure how far behind he was of Webber. I remember seeing Heidfeld behind Hamilton.

Lap 22 Alonso and Button pits. Lap 23 Coulthard pits. Lap 24 Piquet Pits. I dont remember by how much distance were all of them separated, but cosidering that Webber didnt do well in between these laps, the end result was Hamilton caught onto the back of Webber.

Ok,so the first practice is done and Ferrari are on top.Massa will be looking to prove his critics wrong this weekend.

Hamilton out in this practice run. He over hit the kerb and I guess couldnt control the car. Rammed into the tyre wall.

Gulf Air Baharain Grand Prix 2008 Friday Practice II:

Times
01 F. Massa Ferrari 1:31.420 30 laps
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:32.327 30 laps
03 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:32.752 30 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:32.847 26 laps
05 R. Kubica BMW 1:32.915 29 laps
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:33.022 34 laps
07 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:33.048 27 laps
08 K. Nakajima Williams 1:33.098 33 laps
09 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:33.197 37 laps
10 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:33.247 37 laps
11 J. Button Honda 1:33.710 33 laps
12 F. Alonso Renault 1:33.755 26 laps
13 M. Webber Red Bull 1:33.782 34 laps
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:33.822 38 laps
15 T. Glock Toyota 1:33.856 30 laps
16 R. Barrichello Honda 1:33.966 35 laps
17 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:34.023 36 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:34.388 35 laps
19 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:34.405 34 laps
20 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34.787 30 laps
21 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:35.288 24 laps
22 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:35.712 25 laps