Hamilton crashes, Massa fastest

Mclaren’s Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton crashed heavily in Bahrain Grand Prix free practice on Friday...

Mclaren’s Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton crashed heavily in Bahrain Grand Prix free practice on Friday while Felipe Massa put Ferrari on top of the timesheets.

Hamilton lost control of the car in the middle sector of the slippery desert circuit and, with no grip, careered broadside into the tyre barriers with nine minutes of the second session remaining.

The 23-year-old Briton, who leads Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen by three points in the standings after two races, stepped out of the car unscathed.

Story continues below this ad

Hamilton still set the fourth best time of the afternoon at Sakhir, behind third-placed Finnish team mate Heikki Kovalainen and the two Ferrari drivers who repeated their morning one-two with Massa top in both sessions.

Winner from pole position in Bahrain last year, but still without a point after retiring in Australia and Malaysia, the Brazilian lapped in one minute 32.233 seconds in the morning and 1:31.420 in the second stint.

Fisichella 18th

Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella marginally improved his timing from the morning to clock 1:34.388 in the afternoon practice session, but was still 18th on the chart. Adrian Sutil timed 1:34.405 to be 19th, finishing just behind Fisichella and ahead of Torro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel and both the Super Aguri cars.

‘Double bonanza for poor, middle class’: PM’s swadeshi pitch ahead of new GST roll out

India3 hr ago

PM Modi announced the rollout of new GST rates, calling it a "GST bachat utsav" and promising cheaper prices for medicines, insurance, and daily essentials. He emphasized that these reforms would ease doing business, attract investment, and benefit the poor, middle class, MSMEs, farmers, women, traders, and youth. He urged citizens to promote swadeshi goods.

View all shorts

Live Blog