AUGUST 20, 2005

Saturday practice - Kimi blows them away

Kimi Raikkonen was half a second faster than the rest of the field in the final practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix on Saturday morning. The Finn confirmed that McLaren is still well ahead of the game after F1's midseason break. Second fastest was Jenson Button in his BAR-Honda and with Takuma Sato sixth, the Brackley team seemed to be well positioned. Fernando Alonso was third fastest for Renault with Giancarlo Fisichella fifth, the two blue and yellow cars split by the second McLaren, driven by Juan Pablo Montoya.

The battle for seventh was intense but ended up being won by Williams driver Mark Webber who saw off Ralf Schumacher (Toyota), David Coulthard (Red Bull) and Felipe Massa (Sauber). Toyota's Jarno Trulli was a rather disappointing 12th ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the second Williams.

The biggest surprise was the complete lack of pace of the Ferraris with Michael Schumacher two seconds off the pace in 14th place, with Rubens Barrichello 16th, four-tenths slower. The team is clearly struggling with the Istanbul track, which will be welcome news for the team's rivals in the Constructors' Championship.

Down at the back Tiago Monteiro was the fastest of the back four ahead of Robert Doornbos and Christijan Albers, while Narain Karthikeyan had a troubled session and was last on the time sheets.