Surprising to see d'Ambrosio (custard) ahead of Glock consistantly. I thought people thought Glock was one of the better drivers on the grid... I was worried after FP1 for another Red Bull domination but thats now gone, even if they were sand bagging.
Practice 1 and 2 have been very interesting The DRS (moveable rear wing) has so many ifs and buts concerning its use that it's even causing drivers to wonder when it's operable. - I believe it was Rosberg who seemed confused, not realising it could not be used if race control decided that it was officially 'wet'. The whole gimmicky idea needs to be simple. Leave the whole thing at the driver's discretion all of the time! (I know the arguments against this, but I don't care! If F1's audience doesn't understand it properly, much of the original intent will have been wasted, even if it does give us more overtaking! It is vital to involve audiences properly, rather than come up with yet more gadgetry which is likely to confuse - and ultimately has the potential to alienate them. Some observations about the teams and drivers, in almost random recall 4th best car? Or do they scrape 3rd? I think it is the driver line-up which is making McLaren's car look stronger. Whatever. They must be breathing a very large, collective sigh of relief. At least in terms of what I've seen, they appear to have at least off-set their weaknesses. They appeared to run reliably and perhaps surprisingly to some, very much at the sharp end - even though I suspect that both Red Bull and Ferrari were running more conservatively in the second session. And for the doubters, Button's technical mastery is the reason he can claim a fastest lap without being quickest in any single sector. Rare indeed, and I believe enough to leave Hamilton scratching his head on this occasion. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the rest of the weekend but Hamilton is wringing the car's neck to get the same performance Button is getting with the apparent ease of a Fangio or Clark. Over a race distance, it is not difficult to predict the effect upon their respective tyres. 2nd best: Ferrari - Ran well with Alonso who showed his class as usual. Unfortunately Massa has not turned up yet… There seems little else to say except that Pirelli appear to be working more closely with Ferrari than any other team. Best car: Red Bull - Surely no doubt? Exactly to plan and clear favourites for the weekend in my opinion. I believe they ran heavy most of the time and rarely pushed the boat out. Webber was as 'gritty' as ever in P1 but I think Vettel is more likely to take Pole position (although I'm rooting for my mate Webbo!) And if he does so, he will be clear favourite for the race. 3rd best: Mercedes An interesting couple of sessions where thy are showing very genuine pace. I believe this is a fundamentally better car than the McLaren. It was interesting to see that the different sides of the garage used the sessions opposite to each other, by which I mean that Rosberg's side appeared to focus on a qualifying set-up with Rosberg in P1 and Schumacher in P2; each driver focussing on race simulation in the other session. 5th/6th best: Lotus Renault/Toro Rosso (either way) Things get real complicated to see who has the advantage in this very competitive midfield but I believe both of these teams are ahead of Williams, Force India and Sauber who I are comfortably ahead of the tail end: Air Asia, Virgin and, finally able to show their car right at the end of Practice 2: Hispania (what a pretty car too)! I don't expect to see significant change in Practice 3 but Qualifying should be fun!
FP2 times: Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.854s 32 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.986s + 0.132 31 3. Alonso Ferrari 1m26.001s + 0.147 28 4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m26.014s + 0.160 35 5. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.283s + 0.429 33 6. Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.590s + 0.736 31 7. Massa Ferrari 1m26.789s + 0.935 34 8. Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.101s + 1.247 39 9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m27.280s + 1.426 34 10. Rosberg Mercedes 1m27.448s + 1.594 23 11. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.525s + 1.671 31 12. Petrov Renault 1m27.528s + 1.674 29 13. Heidfeld Renault 1m27.536s + 1.682 22 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.697s + 1.843 30 15. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.095s + 2.241 35 16. di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m28.376s + 2.522 33 17. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m28.583s + 2.729 31 18. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m29.386s + 3.532 29 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m30.829s + 4.975 22 20. Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m30.912s + 5.058 23 21. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m32.106s + 6.252 36 22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m32.135s + 6.281 30 Definite McLaren improvement, these last minute mod's might just pay off. Ferrari and RB still looking strong Renault surprisingly slow this morning, though its only FP
Nice analysis cosicave! I was just going to make a point about Team Lotus, I think they have little in the way of competition! By this I don't mean they're going to walk away with the title, but looking at the times, they were a second and a half off the pace of the slowest Force India/Williams, but still 3 (hmm maybe 1 and a bit actually) seconds clear of Virgin. They may have little to compete against, certainly early on in the season! Definitely a step up from last year though. Also, nice to see HRT did get the car on track, even if they didn't post a laptime yet.
I nearly missed that cosicave, must have been adding my bit at the same time as you. Good write up, and I'll going to stick my neck out and say I think we might be seeing McLaren leapfrogging a few and now having the 3rd fastest car. Maybe even fairly close to RB and Ferrari, but for that we must wait for Sat/Sun.
I almost made this point myself. Thanks for mentioning it Canary. Team Lotus (who I find easier to call Air Asia) are comfortably without real competition but they must be longing for the day that they can get on terms with the next team up the pecking order! Also, I did Force India a dis-service by failing to mention them at all, who did pretty much as one might have expected. Apologies to Vijay Mallya and his son (Oops!)
Yes, you may be right Bright! My opinion is that it is very difficult to tell because I genuinely believe that McLaren have a far stronger driver line-up which is once again providing some compensation.
I enjoyed watching the onboards for LH and JB. Different styles achieving similar times, which the team will be happy to see
a bit disapointed with the renaults positions in practice. was expecting them a bit higher. Hopefully they and posibly other teams are still sandbagging till tommorow
just a note on 107% times FP1 1st 1.26:831 last 1.35.289 107% 1.35:709 FP2 1st 1.25:854 last 1.32:135 107% 1.34:663 so they are just in but its marjonal.. yet to see where Hispania stand
Yes, I fear that HRT are going to find this quite a challenge. Due to the failure of their 2011 front wing to pass the crash test, they have been severely compromised by having to use that from their 2010 car: an item which of course played no part in the design of the 2011 car, which is critically important, since this is where the whole aerodynamic 'stage' is set. (Just like the airflow, an aerodynamicist begins at the front of the car and works towards the rear when considering the fundamental design philosophy).
It's interesting, how you younger guys support MS, it seem's he appealed to the younger generation much more than he did us older blokes, why do you think that is ? I have my own theory, but lets hear your's.
Thats interesting El Bando, I think HRT will struggle for sure, but I'd be curious if Virgin make it or not. On FP1 performance, I'd say they'd struggle, but it looks like they picked it up in FP2. I guess it only takes a couple of poor laps from one of them and they won't make it. I'd be curious as to how harshly the rule is enforced. Last time it was used, drivers could still enter in some cases where they posted a quick enough time in another session - will this still be the case? If a driver fails to set a Q1 time due to mechanical issues or a crash, will they still be able to enter if they've been fast enough in previous sessions? Another point I didn't mention earlier, its nice to see di Resta beat Sutil in FP2! We don't know fuel, etc, but thats encouraging!
thats true, and they had practise on sunday as well before the race to try and get a quick lap in to qualify. Also I remember a few years back in france, Fisi was ill and was allowed to qualify from what he did in practise. or something like that.
