Raikkonen sets early pace

Kimi Raikkonen blazed the early trail today with hopes understandably high that the engine failures that have dogged him in practice at the last two grands prix are behind him.

Raikkonen was the quickest of the race drivers in first practice for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim on Sunday, with the McLaren star setting a time of one minute 15.634 seconds for the 4.574km circuit.

The third McLaren of test driver Alexander Wurz was fastest overall, followed by Toyota’s Friday tester Ricardo Zonta.

Austrian Wurz clocked 1:14.277, six tenths of a second faster than Zonta, suggesting the Woking-based team will again be the marque to beat – providing the Mercedes engine does not give way on this occasion.

In practice at the recent French and British Grand Prix, Raikkonen has suffered engine problems and ultimately required a replacement, resulting in a 10-place demotion down the grid following qualifying.

Unfazed, the Finn still completed nine laps of the circuit, which was enough to see him ahead of the rest, with Jenson Button giving rise to hopes McLaren and Renault will not have it all their own way this weekend.

The BAR star set a time of 1:15.851, and along with Raikkonen’s McLaren team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, they were the only drivers to go under 76 seconds.

Reigning world champion and last year’s race winner Michael Schumacher followed, along with Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, while Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard was 11th with 1:17.277.

Unsurprisingly, and as has become customary for the first hour-long session, the Renault duo of championship leader Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella did nothing more than complete two installation laps in order to preserve their engines.

Of the other 22 drivers who set a time, it was new Minardi racer Robert Doornbos who was the slowest, almost five seconds down on Raikkonen.

Jordan’s new Friday test driver, Nicolas Kiesa, was first on track, but it was Wurz who set the benchmark with a time of 1:17.376, and continued to do so as the session progressed.

Red Bull Racing’s Christian Klien spun inside the opening three minutes, followed by test team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi and the Jordan of Narain Karthikeyan, although all were able to continue.