The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen has dominated the first practice session in Turkey. Raikkonen’s first attempts were incredibly quick and he set some storming times at the start of the session, over eight tenths faster than the rest of the field. Team-mate Felipe Massa closed in on Raikkonen slowly throughout the session but was unable to match his team-mates pace, finishing 0.403 seconds behind.

It seems that the McLarens have no answer the pace of the Ferraris with Alonso taking third, a full 1.2 seconds behind Raikkonen.  Hamilton’s pace at the track is a bit of an unknown quantity. The Brit finished fourth, however he only completed 10 laps of the track before a mechanical problem ended his session prematurely.

Renault finished fifth with Hekki Kovalainen, and the Williams of Nico Rosberg rounded out the top six. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a good weekend for Toyota with both drivers spinning. Jarno Trulli span early on in the session at the final complex; Ralf Schumacher went off at Turn One, and then later on at Turn Four.

Coulthard was also having a torrid time. The Scot spun on Turn One on his last lap. After rejoining the track, a flash fire developed under his car and he had to stop whilst the fire was put out by marshals.

Unofficial times for Practice 1 at Istanbul Park:

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