Hydraulic issues have plagued Hispania Racing so far this weekend and rookie pilot Chandhok was forced to remain in the garage on Friday and again on Saturday morning. Team mate Bruno Senna fared a little better, managing to complete 17 laps in the afternoon and then adding a further 11 this morning.

We’ve had a load of problems, obviously coming late to the programme. We can’t seem to get the clutch and gearbox working the right way. I don’t think we are going to get out this [Friday] afternoon, which is disappointing.

There have been about five occasions in the last 24 hours when we thought we would be okay, and then something went wrong. It’s frustrating for the mechanics as well, because they have been working since last night.

It’s some sort of electronic or hydraulic issue, I don’t think it’s mechanical. It’s not an ideal situation, but we’ve been a but luckier on Bruno’s car which at least got out of the garage, and try and do a bit more this afternoon. Karun Chandhok.

It obviously isn’t an ideal situation for Chandhok, and he admitted to Jake Humphrey prior to qualifying that he just hopes to get some laps under his belt and intends to stay away from the other drivers, perhaps not even running in the final 6 or 7 minutes of Q1 in order to avoid the faster cars.

Even the teams who have been in F1 for a long time, there is a lot to learn, so for a new team and a new driver you can imagine that problem multiplies. It’s not an easy situation.

We all knew coming into the weekend that it is going to be tough, but we were at least hoping to do some sort of a shakedown today. That was the plan. It is what it is.

Medium to long term I am optimistic, but it certainly looks like the first four races are going to be character building. Karun Chandhok.

Karun Chandhok however, despite the problems he and the Hispania team are facing, remained very calm in the garage and spoke well to the media.

It seems to be a bit of a nightmare for us. In some ways it is annoying and frustrating, but in some ways it is normal because it is a shakedown and that is what you end up seeing at shakedowns.

The team are working amazingly hard. These guys have worked 40 hours straight and they are doing the best job they can – unfortunately we haven’t had the time to do all this in private.

To have got into the car and then get back out three minutes later was not a very good feeling, but what can I do? I have to keep my chin up. There is no point getting depressed about it, and no point slagging the team off. It is not anyone’s fault – it is just circumstances. Karun Chandhok.

Update:
Somewhat impressively though, Chandhok managed to get out in the first qualifying session and was only 1.7s off the pace. Considering the Indian had never turned a wheel in the car since today, the pace Chandhok managed was pretty good.

Original article by BlogF1.

Never Turned A Wheel: Karun Chandhok Prepares To Qualify

Returning world champion Michael Schumacher underlined the performance of the Mercedes MGP-W01 by completing the third fastest lap of the afternoon, sandwiching McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in P2. Jenson Button continued the theme by going fourth fastest in the MP4-25. Nico Hulkenberg once again impressed with a fine performance to finish in P5, again beating his much more experienced team mate Rubens Barrichello, who could only manage P13. Barrichello was just under a second off Hulkenberg’s pace, while the top four drivers were separated by just over 0.6s.

Other notable positions from the second free practice session were the Ferraris, Felipe Massa finishing his day in P7 and Fernando Alonso slipping down to P9, the red cars sandwiching rookie Vitaly Petrov in P8. Both Saubers ran well, Pedro De La Rosa going tenth quickest closely followed by team mate Kamui Kobayashi in P11, the pair separated by 0.1s.

Red Bull Racing endured problems during the afternoon, and although Sebastian Vettel managed to go P5, he did take a couple of excursions over the run-off areas. Mark Webber fared less well and could only complete 12 laps due to a drive shaft problem on his RB6. Sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso also had their fair share of problems, with Sebastien Buemi spending the afternoon in the garage with a suspected gearbox problem and Jaime Alguersuari narrowly missing the armco barrier as he gracefully spun on the bumpy section at the top of the course.

Of the new teams, Lotus lead with Heikki Kovalainen in P18 and Jarno Trulli in P19, the pair followed by Virgin Racing in P20 and P21, Timo Glock out-performing his rookie team mate Lucas Di Grassi. Bruno Senna finally got Hispania’s campaign underway by completing 17 laps, although the Brazilian driver did stop on-track at the very end of the session, his rear-right wheel coming loose and the nut flying off as Senna braked. Unfortunately, Karun Chandhok had to once again sit in his garage and look at the proceedings on television.

	Bahrain 2010 Free Practice Two	Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Completed
1.	Nico Rosberg Mercedes	1m55.409s	23 Laps
2.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m55.854s	22 Laps
3.	Michael Schumacher Mercedes	1m55.903s	23 Laps
4.	Jenson Button McLaren	1m56.076s	28 Laps
5.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m55.459s	18 Laps
6.	Nico Hulkenberg Williams	1m56.501s	26 Laps
7.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m56.555s	30 Laps
8.	Vitaly Petrov Renault	1m56.750s	26 Laps
9.	Fernando Alonso Ferrari	1m57.140s	25 Laps
10.	Pedro De La Rosa Sauber	1m57.255s	24 Laps
11.	Kamui Kobayashi Sauber	1m57.352s	27 Laps
12.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m57.361s	29 Laps
13.	Rubens Barrichello Williams	1m57.452s	21 Laps
14.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	1m57.833s	29 Laps
15.	Robert Kubica Renault	1m58.155s	29 Laps
16.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m59.799s	31 Laps
17.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	2m00.444s	12 Laps
18.	Heikki Kovalainen Lotus	2m00.873s	23 Laps
19.	Jarno Trulli Lotus	2m00.990s	14 Laps
20.	Timo Glock Virgin Racing	2m02.037s	3 Laps
21.	Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing	2m02.188s	21 Laps
22.	Bruno Senna Hispania Racing	2m06.968s	17 Laps
23.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	No Time	1 Lap
24.	Karun Chandhok Hispania Racing	No Time	0 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Bahrain 2010: Free Practice Two

Perhaps surprisingly though, it was Adrian Sutil who went fastest, beating the top teams and top drivers to head the timing sheet. Sutil’s laptime, 1m56.583s, was 0.2s faster than Fernando Alonso who showed good pace in the Ferrari. Of course, the times are greater than those set last year due to the new configuration being used at the Sakhir circuit.

Being the opening session, there were a few problems for many drivers and the track was very green, having not been used for a while and the wind blowing sand over the tarmac. Three drivers failed to set times, one of whom didn’t even get out of the garage. Lucas Di Grassi completed two laps but neither were timed, likewise Bruno Senna completed three un-timed tours of Sakhir. Karun Chandhok remained in the pitlane, the Hispania Racing car having only passed scrutineering this morning.

Other notable positions on the timing sheet include Felipe Massa, the Brazilian returning to full-time racing after his accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix last year. Massa went P4 in the sister Ferrari. The McLarens went P5 and P6, Jenson Button getting the upper hand on his team mate Lewis Hamilton. Vitantonio Liuzzi underlined the performance of the Force India, going P7 and only 0.031s behind Hamilton.

Nico Rosberg drove considerably better than his experienced team mate Michael Schumacher, the word in Bahrain being the multiple world champion isn’t entirely happy with the way everything is going. According to BBC Radio 5live, Schumacher requested his garage set up be changed, causing a headache for the mechanics and engineers who are used to the garage being configured a certain way. Schumacher went P10 in comparison to Rosberg’s P8.

Red Bull Racing went P9 and P13, Mark Webber driving better than Sebastian Vettel. Of the new teams who managed times, Timo Glock heads the rest with P19 although the German was over 2s slower than the Saubers ahead of him. Heikki Kovalainen finished his morning in P20, 0.122s ahead of his team mate Jarno Trulli.

Of the new drivers, Nico Hulkenberg ended his morning in P12, interestingly ahead of his team mate Rubens Barrichello who finished in P15. Russia’s first Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov completed his running in P16, although he was considerably shy of his team mate, Robert Kubica driving to a fine P3 time.

	Bahrain 2010 Free Practice Two	Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Completed
1.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m56.583s	18 Laps
2.	Fernando Alonso Ferrari	1m56.766s	18 Laps
3.	Robert Kubica Renault	1m57.041s	19 Laps
4.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m57.055s	19 Laps
5.	Jenson Button McLaren	1m57.068s	19 Laps
6.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m57.163s	19 Laps
7.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	1m57.194s	19 Laps
8.	Nico Rosberg Mercedes	1m57.199s	15 Laps
9.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m57.255s	17 Laps
10.	Michael Schumacher Mercedes	1m57.662s	16 Laps
11.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m57.722s	18 Laps
12.	Nico Hulkenberg Williams	1m57.894s	20 Laps
13.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m57.943s	17 Laps
14.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m58.399s	13 Laps
15.	Rubens Barrichello Williams	1m58.782s	11 Laps
16.	Vitaly Petrov Renault	1m58.880s	13 Laps
17.	Pedro De La Rosa Sauber	2m00.250s	18 Laps
18.	Kamui Kobayashi Sauber	2m01.388s	11 Laps
19.	Timo Glock Virgin Racing	2m03.680s	8 Laps
20.	Heikki Kovalainen Lotus	2m03.848s	21 Laps
21.	Jarno Trulli Lotus	2m03.970s	15 Laps
22.	Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing	No Time	2 Laps
23.	Bruno Senna Hispania Racing	No Time	3 Laps
24.	Karun Chandhok Hispania Racing	No Time	0 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Bahrain 2010: Free Practice One

It was Alonso’s third attempt at posting a leading time that caused the biggest upset of the day though, as although the Spaniard had returned his Renault to the top, Fernando was still going for it. Heading into the final corner, Alonso dived up the inside of Nick Heidfeld and the pair collided, the BMW being pitched up into the air.

Both drivers limped back to the pitlane and after the R29 had received a new nose and front wing assembly, it was back out on the track. The final lap of Alonso lowered the target to the sub 100s for the first time this weekend, and the time remained until the clocked ticked down to zero. Not content with his already enthralling display, Alonso threw in a spin for good measure as well, but only after improving his fastest time further in the first two sectors.

Once again, Brawn appear to have found good pace and just as they were in the pre-lunch session, both pilots were near the top of the table, this time with Jenson Button ahead in P2. Williams also ran well in the second stint, Nico Rosberg managing P4 and team mate Kazuki Nakajima P5. Adrian Sutil again pleased by placing his Force India well inside the top ten and in P6, this time backed up by team mate Giancarlo Fisichella in P8.

The Red Bulls didn’t look quite so sharp in the afternoon run with Sebastian Vettel only getting himself in P9 and Mark Webber trailing in P14. McLaren too slipped backwards, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing his Friday in P10 and Lewis Hamilton in P20. The Briton only completed 3 laps before clipping a barrier and damaging his car. The team decided to call it an early day and started a pre-qualifying rebuild.

Romain Grosjean impressed with a P13 lap time that was 1.4s shy of Alonso’s leading pace. Luca Badoer also improved, setting a time worthy of P18 and 1.3s off his team mate’s benchmark pace. Jaime Alguersuari completed his day’s work 0.072s behind the trailing Ferrari and only ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Valencia 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m39.404s	33 Laps
2.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m40.178s	33 Laps
3.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m40.209s	34 Laps
4.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m40.385s	39 Laps
5.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m40.503s	35 Laps
6.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m40.596s	23 Laps
7.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m40.643s	34 Laps
8.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m40.681s	31 Laps
9.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m40.723s	33 Laps
10.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m40.738s	31 Laps
11.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m40.739s	39 Laps
12.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m40.770s	32 Laps
13.	Romain Grosjean Renault	1m40.787s	35 Laps
14.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m40.956s	37 Laps
15.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m40.985s	30 Laps
16.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m41.156s	34 Laps
17.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m41.350s	29 Laps
18.	Luca Badoer Ferrari	1m42.017s	37 Laps
19.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m42.089s	34 Laps
20.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m43.214s	3 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Valencia 2009: Friday Practice Two

The European Grand Prix will see one new driver debut and another returning to the cockpit on a race weekend after ten years away from the limelight. Renault have chosen to replace Nelson Piquet Jr with French pilot Romain Grosjean. The returnee is Luca Badoer, the Italian substituting Felipe Massa in the Ferrari while the Brazilian recuperates away from the race track. Grosjean completed his first session in a Formula One car in P17, 1s shy of Fernando Alonso’s pace. Luca Badoer fared less well and finished the morning’s running in P20, some 2.5s shy of Kimi Raikkonen’s benchmark.

Both Scuderia Toro Rosso pilots did well before breaking for lunch, with Sebastien Buemi managing to haul his STR4 into P11 and Spanish rookie Jaime Alguersuari not too far behind in P13. Conversely, the Toyotas didn’t do so well, with Jarno Trulli back in P18 and team mate Timo Glock just a tenth slower in P19.

Valencia 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m42.460s	19 Laps
2.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m42.636s	16 Laps
3.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m42.654s	18 Laps
4.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m43.074s	19 Laps
5.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m43.088s	17 Laps
6.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m43.209s	13 Laps
7.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m43.225s	25 Laps
8.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m43.243s	19 Laps
9.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m43.345s	18 Laps
10.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m43.384s	23 Laps
11.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m43.389s	30 Laps
12.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m43.419s	20 Laps
13.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m43.637s	30 Laps
14.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m43.746s	22 Laps
15.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m44.040s	23 Laps
16.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m44.126s	17 Laps
17.	Romain Grosjean Renault	1m44.356s	23 Laps
18.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m44.638s	26 Laps
19.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m44.732s	28 Laps
20.	Luca Badoer Ferrari	1m45.840s	25 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Valencia 2009: Friday Practice One

While McLaren are showing signs of improvement, Brawn once again looked a little lack-lustre, Rubens Barrichello just managing P7 and Jenson Button languishing in P13.

Ferrari too appear to have suffered a dip in performance. In Germany, Felipe Massa scored the squad’s first podium of the year and enjoyed a fairly competitive race. However, the shift to a slightly warmer Hungary has shown the pair of Gestione Sportiva pilots to be down on pace again. Kimi Raikkonen could only haul his F60 into P11 and almost 0.7s shy of Hamilton’s pace, while team mate Massa was well down in P18 after having a few excursions during the session.

Both Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers remain firmly behind the pair of Force India pilots, although the improvements the Swiss and Spanish drivers made show the difference in experience between the two. Sebastien Buemi, now the team leader at the little Italian squad, improved by 0.822s between the two practice sessions, whereas young Alguersuari could only improve by 0.286s.

Hungary 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m22.079s	36 Laps
2.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m22.126s	36 Laps
3.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m22.154s	47 Laps
4.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m22.369s	29 Laps
5.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m22.426s	40 Laps
6.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m22.550s	30 Laps
7.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m22.641s	38 Laps
8.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m22.663s	28 Laps
9.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m22.690s	43 Laps
10.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m22.751s	45 Laps
11.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m22.763s	38 Laps
12.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m22.793s	37 Laps
13.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m22.806s	42 Laps
14.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m22.870s	36 Laps
15.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m22.927s	36 Laps
16.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m22.978s	28 Laps
17.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m23.029s	39 Laps
18.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m23.156s	32 Laps
19.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m23.176s	45 Laps
20.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1ms	Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Hungary 2009: Friday Practice Two

It wasn’t all dominant for Red Bull though, as Sebastian Vettel could only manage P15 with a lap time that was 1s off the Finnish pilot’s pace. However, Brawn also appeared to struggle slightly in the opening run at the Hungaroring, with Jenson Button managing P10 and Rubens ‘Mr Happy’ Barrichello placing his BGP 001 in P13.

The busiest man of the morning was unsurprisingly Scuderia Toro Rosso debutant Jaime Alguersuari. Having only driving the STR4 in a couple of straight-line tests, the Spanish youngster got to grips with the car quickly and despite his lack of experience, the final time after 42 laps was just 0.230s down on his team mate, Sebastien Buemi.

Hungary 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Heikki Kovlainen McLaren	1m22.278s	21 Laps
2.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m22.337s	27 Laps
3.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m22.554s	20 Laps
4.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m22.615s	21 Laps
5.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m22.619s	25 Laps
6.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m22.705s	17 Laps
7.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m22.796s	23 Laps
8.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m22.855s	25 Laps
9.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m23.001s	28 Laps
10.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m23.130s	25 Laps
11.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m23.146s	24 Laps
12.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m23.154s	23 Laps
13.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m23.209s	24 Laps
14.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m23.234s	30 Laps
15.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m23.283s	25 Laps
16.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m23.484s	20 Laps
17.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m23.678s	22 Laps
18.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m23.845s	18 Laps
19.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m23.998s	37 Laps
20.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m24.228s	42 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Hungary 2009: Friday Practice One

Sebastian Vettel came close to Sebastien Bourdais at the first corner towards the beginning of the session, the pair thankfully avoiding damage. When it started to drizzle again later in the afternoon, Lewis Hamilton found himself pointing the wrong way, as did Jarno Trulli in the Toyota.

The Force India team had another great showing, but much like the morning run, it was bitter sweet. This time Adrian Sutil claimed P6, but team mate Giancarlo Fisichella, who went P5 before lunch, spun early on and damaged his VJM02.

Ferrari have slipped back a little, Felipe Massa going from P3 to P12 and Kimi Raikkonen similarly going from P6 to P16. Conversely, Rubens Barrichello has managed to find some pace and BMW remain exactly as they were in the morning; P11 and P14 for Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica respectively. Although their times did improve substantially in line with everyone else.

Germany 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m32.149s	23 Laps
2.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m32.331s	31 Laps
3.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m32.369s	32 Laps
4.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m32.480s	28 Laps
5.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m32.511s	32 Laps
6.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m32.585s	32 Laps
7.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m32.664s	26 Laps
8.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m32.774s	24 Laps
9.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m32.872s	32 Laps
10.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m32.992s	29 Laps
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m33.012s	36 Laps
12.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m33.052s	34 Laps
13.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m33.128s	34 Laps
14.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m33.161s	28 Laps
15.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m33.172s	34 Laps
16.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m33.182s	29 Laps
17.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m33.724s	27 Laps
18.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m33.903s	30 Laps
19.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m34.025s	30 Laps
20.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m38.877s	3 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Germany 2009: Friday Practice Two

Mark Webber ended the morning at the top of the timing sheets, setting the fastest time and going 0.4s faster than Jenson Button in the Brawn. Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel could only manage P8 and 0.8s off the pace, but it was Rubens Barrichello who surprised more by only getting as high as P12, some 1.1s off the Australian’s time. Vettel did suffer a mechanical issue which resulted in less track-time for the German.

Another surprise was Giancarlo Fisichella, who broke for lunch in P5 and just 0.001s ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari. Fisichella’s team mate Adrian Sutil was P20, resulting from a mechanical issue that brought his Force India to a halt after just six laps. Felipe Massa managed to get himself into P3.

The weather was quite cold in Germany this morning, which may give reason to Webber’s pace, the RB5 known to be able to get heat into the tyres quite quickly, especially in comparison to the Brawn BGP 001.

Germany 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m33.082s	19 Laps
2.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m33.463s	18 Laps
3.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m33.745s	21 Laps
4.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m33.795s	23 Laps
5.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m33.839s	26 Laps
6.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m33.840s	23 Laps
7.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m33.902s	26 Laps
8.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m33.909s	13 Laps
9.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m33.952s	25 Laps
10.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m34.148s	16 Laps
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m34.221s	25 Laps
12.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m34.227s	17 Laps
13.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m34.483s	14 Laps
14.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m34.694s	23 Laps
15.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m34.738s	24 Laps
16.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m34.827s	27 Laps
17.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m34.878s	28 Laps
18.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m34.893s	26 Laps
19.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m34.911s	23 Laps
20.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m35.092s	6 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Germany 2009: Friday Practice One

Kazuki Nakajima also improved, this time getting ahead of team mate Nico Roberg who ended his morning run in P1. Nakajima managed to set a P4 time, 0.2s faster than Rosberg who himself finished in P7. Rubens Barrichello and Mark Webber also improved over their morning form, the Brawn pilot going 0.2s faster than his pre-lunch time, and Webber shedding 0.7s from his earlier pace.

Sebastian Vettel in the sister Red Bull car managed to sustain his previous position, going from P4 in the morning run to P5 in the afternoon. However, his post-lunch appearance was cut short after just 4 laps, the German race winner stopping at T2 with a driveshaft problem. Vettel still managed to set a time 0.1s faster than he did in the morning.

Of the spinners, Lewis Hamilton made the most impression having pirouetted his McLaren around twice during the second 90 minute session. Also not performing as they should were Giancarlo Fisichella and Kazuki Nakajima, who made contact at T12/T13 complex, neither driver apparently offering the other enough room.

Turkey 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m28.841s	37 Laps
2.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m28.847s	35 Laps
3.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m29.056s	35 Laps
4.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m29.091s	37 Laps
5.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m29.202s	4 Laps
6.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m29.207s	40 Laps
7.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m29.257s	40 Laps
8.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m29.305s	34 Laps
9.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m29.383s	39 Laps
10.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m29.401s	38 Laps
11.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m29.416s	37 Laps
12.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m29.430s	32 Laps
13.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m29.435s	31 Laps
14.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m29.518s	40 Laps
15.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m29.520s	33 Laps
16.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m29.550s	40 Laps
17.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m30.081s	32 Laps
18.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m30.091s	37 Laps
19.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m30.295s	39 Laps
20.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m30.629s	36 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Turkey 2009: Free Practice Two

The Istanbul Park circuit started off in a very dusty condition, meaning that few drivers ventured out in the first 30 minutes, and when they did plumes of dust were sent into the air as the cars cleaned the surface with each tour. By the mid-point, most drivers had set a time and Jarno Trulli showed promise in the TF109, improving on his and the car’s form from the previous Monaco Grand Prix.

A few drivers left the track at the first corner, and when Felipe Massa ventured off into the scenery, his Ferrari dislodged the astro-turf lining the track, causing the session to be briefly stopped while repairs were made. Turn 8 also saw a few drivers run wide, the corner notorious with its quadruple apex. Sebastian Vettel, Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso also span and one point or another during the practice run.

The times set were relatively close, with only a second separating Lewis Hamilton in P2 and Mark Webber in P15. Other notable performances came from the Force Indias, with Adrian Sutil ending his morning in P12, and Giancarlo Fisichella keeping himself ahead of the two Scuderia Toro Rosso pilots.

Turkey 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m28.952s	24 Laps
2.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m29.263s	23 Laps
3.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m29.271s	26 Laps
4.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m29.337s	17 Laps
5.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m29.342s	22 Laps
6.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m29.371s	21 Laps
7.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m29.398s	24 Laps
8.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m29.422s	24 Laps
9.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m29.525s	24 Laps
10.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m29.590s	19 Laps
11.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m29.747s	20 Laps
12.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m29.864s	21 Laps
13.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m29.934s	25 Laps
14.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m30.132s	18 Laps
15.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m30.176s	21 Laps
16.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m30.645s	22 Laps
17.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m30.689s	19 Laps
18.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m30.729s	22 Laps
19.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m30.838s	24 Laps
20.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m30.944s	25 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Turkey 2009: Friday Practice One

Monaco 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m15.243s	45 Laps
2.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m15.445s	34 Laps
3.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m15.590s	40 Laps
4.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m15.774s	35 Laps
5.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m15.832s	41 Laps
6.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m15.847s	33 Laps
7.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m15.984s	44 Laps
8.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m15.985s	42 Laps
9.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m16.260s	42 Laps
10.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m16.286s	42 Laps
11.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m16.552s	38 Laps
12.	Mark Webber FRed Bull Racing	1m16.579s	27 Laps
13.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m16.675s	37 Laps
14.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m16.915s	42 Laps
15.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m16.983s	47 Laps
16.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m17.052s	47 Laps
17.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m17.109s	39 Laps
18.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m17.207s	44 Laps
19.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m17.504s	44 Laps
20.	Robert Kubica BMW	No Time	2 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Monaco 2009: Free Practice Two

Monaco 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m17.189s	25 Laps
2.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m17.499s	31 Laps
3.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m17.578s	25 Laps
4.	Heikki Kovalainen McLAren	1m17.686s	29 Laps
5.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m17.839s	30 Laps
6.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m18.000s	29 Laps
7.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m18.024s	27 Laps
8.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m18.080s	27 Laps
9.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m18.283s	30 Laps
10.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m18.348s	22 Laps
11.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m18.695s	36 Laps
12.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m19.204s	36 Laps
13.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m19.233s	16 Laps
14.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m19.255s	30 Laps
15.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m19.534s	27 Laps
16.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m19.560s	20 Laps
17.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m19.579s	22 Laps
18.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m19.600s	23 Laps
19.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m19.698s	23 Laps
20.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m19.831s	28 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Monaco 2009: Free Practice One

Alonso’s team mate Nelson Piquet Jr is enjoying some revived form so far this weekend, breaking for lunch in P7 and finishing the second session in P8. His day wasn’t easy though with incidents in both practices. The afternoon run saw the Brazilian scrape the barrier and his Renault required the assistance of the marshals before he could rejoin the track. A second spin later on showed that improvement is still needed.

Toyota fared less well than earlier and ended up towards the bottom of the timing sheet, Timo Glock posting the eighteenth fastest lap and Jarno Trulli just 0.3s down in nineteenth. Also not doing as well as expected were both the McLarens with Lewis Hamilton completing his Friday running in P13 and Heikki Kovalainen in P14.

Giancarlo Fisichella showed promise in the Force India, just as he did in Bahrain with a fine P12. Unfortunately for the team though, Adrian Sutil was forced to watch from the pitlane as his fuel cell developed a problem. And also running well this afternoon were both Scuderia Toro Rossos, with Sebastien Buemi out-performing his team mate once again and finishing in P9, ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in P11.

Spain 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m21.588s	43 Laps
2.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m21.740s	40 Laps
3.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m21.781s	36 Laps
4.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m21.843s	39 Laps
5.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m22.027s	37 Laps
6.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m22.052s	35 Laps
7.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m22.082s	45 Laps
8.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m22.349s	26 Laps
9.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m22.571s	17 Laps
10.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m22.599s	40 Laps
11.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m22.615s	30 Laps
12.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m22.670s	32 Laps
13.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m22.809s	31 Laps
14.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m22.876s	29 Laps
15.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m22.878s	35 Laps
16.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m22.948s	40 Laps
17.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m23.173s	39 Laps
18.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m23.360s	46 Laps
19.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m23.623s	47 Laps
20.	Adrian Sutil Force India	No Time	0 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Friday Practice Two

Unsurprisingly, Jenson Button leads the pack with a benchmark time 0.355s faster than second-placed driver Jarno Trulli. Ross Brawn stated this week that although few updates have been made to the championship leading BGP 001 since the first race in Australia, the Spanish round would see the chassis receive some upgrades.

The next surprise were the BMWs, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld setting the third and fourth quickest times. As with testing, it is unknown what fuel loads the drivers are carrying and the laps set may just have been run on fumes. But to see both drivers in the mix (albeit 0.4s apart) is certainly encouraging.

The Williams showed off their now customary practice pace, although credit where it is due, it wasn’t just Nico Rosberg who was beaming his way around the paddock as team mate Kazuki Nakajima went ever so slightly faster. In fact, the young Japanese pilot was only 0.001s shy of Nick Heidfeld ahead of him.

Surprise number three came from Nelson Piquet Jr, who posted the seventh fastest lap of the morning, a second shy of the pace setting Brawn and 0.4s the better of team mate Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard ended up in P17, although the difference between the pair can be explained by the team allowing Piquet more low-fuel mileage in practice in order to help the Brazilian with his qualifying form.

Timo Glock, Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello rounded out the top ten.

The Red Bulls had a low-key session with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel breaking for lunch in P12 and P13. They did remain ahead of the McLaren duo though, with Lewis Hamilton down in P14 and Heikki Kovalainen in P19. All in all, there were few incidents in the first session, with only Vettel, Webber and Glock running wide through corners and Rosberg had a brief spin in his Williams.

Spain 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m21.799s	21 Laps
2.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m22.154s	30 Laps
3.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m22.221s	24 Laps
4.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m22.658s	14 Laps
5.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m22.659s	24 Laps
6.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m22.667s	26 Laps
7.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m22.753s	24 Laps
8.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m22.828s	29 Laps
9.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m22.855s	15 Laps
10.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m22.859s	24 Laps
11.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m22.873s	20 Laps
12.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m22.934s	25 Laps
13.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m22.959s	24 Laps
14.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m23.077s	21 Laps
15.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m23.088s	30 Laps
16.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m23.089s	25 Laps
17.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m23.157s	18 Laps
18.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m23.185s	31 Laps
19.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m23.522s	17 Laps
20.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m23.536s	19 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Friday Practice One

The surprise of the afternoon were the Force India duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil. Early in the 90 minute running Fisichella popped in a quick lap but the pace of Sutil was the talking point at the end of the day, the German finishing in P7. Also improving were both Red Bull pilots, but this was at the cost of the downward moving BMWs and Brawns. Nick Heidfeld ended his day at the bottom while team mate Robert Kubica could only manage P17. Jenson Button also fared less well, one place down on his morning performance but 0.9s faster.

The Ferrari’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa also struggled around the Bahrain circuit. Traditionally, Sakhir is Ferrari territory, but as we saw in Malaysia (another of the traditional Scuderia tracks) not everything is going their way this year. Raikkonen went from P10 in the morning to P18 in the afternoon, only improving by 0.2s. Felipe Massa started the day well in P8 but also finished further down the tables, 0.025s faster but in P16. Massa is not running KERS this weekend but Raikkonen is, and the fact that Massa has been faster in both sessions says a lot about the state of the F60 at the moment.

Bahrain 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m33.339s	36 Laps
2.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m33.530s	25 Laps
3.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m33.616s	37 Laps
4.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m33.661s	29 Laps
5.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m33.676s	32 Laps
6.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m33.694s	35 Laps
7.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m33.763s	30 Laps
8.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m33.764s	37 Laps
9.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m33.885s	30 Laps
10.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m33.899s	36 Laps
11.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m33.994s	30 Laps
12.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m34.025s	23 Laps
13.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m34.127s	37 Laps
14.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m34.366s	26 Laps
15.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m34.411s	29 Laps
16.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m34.564s	34 Laps
17.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m34.605s	31 Laps
18.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m34.670s	28 Laps
19.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m34.764s	35 Laps
20.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m34.790s	33 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Bahrain 2009: Friday Practice Two

Hamilton led comfortably and even a late surge from the BMWs of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica couldn’t displace the Briton. It is unusual to see the Swiss-German team so high up the tables in a practice session; Mario Theissen preferring to hide pace of his team until later in the weekend. However, with perhaps not the greatest of cars in comparison to others, both BMW pilots utilised the 90 minutes of running well and finished just 0.3s shy of the leading McLaren, albeit on the soft compound.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello weren’t as close to the top of the table as they are used to, and Button suffered an upshift problem with his gear box. So far the box hasn’t been replaced and Brawn will want to avoid changing it as the result would be a 5 grid slot penalty. Both Ferraris showed signs of some improvement, with Felipe Massa finishing in P8 and Kimi Raikkonen in P10, although Raikkonen was lucky to escape a meeting with the barrier after he lost the F60 on the exit of T2.

Uncharacteristically, Fernando Alonso was well down the order, as were both Toyotas. This allowed the Force India cars to move up, with Adrian Sutil ending his morning in P14 and Giancarlo Fisichella in P16. The times set for the bottom ten were very close and should hopefully mean a close qualifying session tomorrow. Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen also set identical lap times to within a thousandth of a second, the Australian being ahead due to to setting the time first.

Bahrain 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m33.647s	19 Laps
2.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m33.907s	17 Laps
3.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m33.938s	17 Laps
4.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m34.227s	24 Laps
5.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m34.434s	15 Laps
6.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m34.502s	24 Laps
7.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m34.531s	18 Laps
8.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m34.589s	17 Laps
9.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m34.827s	21 Laps
10.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m34.827s	19 Laps
11.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m34.880s	24 Laps
12.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m34.938s	21 Laps
13.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m34.974s	21 Laps
14.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m35.021s	18 Laps
15.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m35.036s	22 Laps
16.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m35.042s	16 Laps
17.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m35.333s	20 Laps
18.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m35.348s	24 Laps
19.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m35.353s	22 Laps
20.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m35.369s	15 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Bahrain 2009: Friday Practice One

It wasn’t just Nico Rosberg who improved, as his team mate Kazuki Nakajima shot up to seventh late in the session. Heikki Kovalainen also showed promise in the second McLaren, posting a time 0.3s faster than Hamilton’s, despite piloting the car without the aerodynamic modifications that could be found on his team mate’s.

Both BMWs rested towards the bottom of the timing sheets again, although they will almost undoubtedly show their pace tomorrow in qualifying. Both Ferraris looked decidedly off-colour in China, as did Hamilton’s McLaren and Alonso’s Renault.

Shanghai 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m35.679s	35 Laps
2.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m35.704s	36 Laps
3.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m35.881s	35 Laps
4.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m36.105s	32 Laps
5.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m36.026s	22 Laps
6.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m36.167s	42 Laps
7.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m36.377s	32 Laps
8.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m36.548s	40 Laps
9.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m36.674s	34 Laps
10.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m36.800s	34 Laps
11.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m36.829s	30 Laps
12.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m36.847s	34 Laps
13.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m36.941s	28 Laps
14.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m37.054s	33 Laps
15.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m37.219s	34 Laps
16.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m37.273s	36 Laps
17.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m37.491s	34 Laps
18.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m37.544s	28 Laps
19.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m37.638s	28 Laps
20.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m37.750s	31 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Shanghai 2009: Friday Practice Two

Elsewhere in the tables, the Red Bulls were split with Mark Webber going fifth quickest and Sebastian Vettel only going twelfth. The Renaults were also split with Fernando Alonso completing nineteen laps to ninth and Nelson Piquet Jr. ending up in the final position, over 0.7s shy of his team mate.

Nico Rosberg ran well in seventh as did the Toyotas, although Timo Glock skated over the grass on more than one occasion. Both Scuderia Toro Rossos looked good in the first practice, and Force India also capitalised on the low running of the second Renault, the second Williams of Kazuki Nakajima and both BMWs.

Ferrari languished closer to the bottom of the tables along with the BMW pilots, and it would seem that removing the KERS from the Ferrari F60 has had little effect. The BMWs often run heavy in practice, so it isn’t a total surprise to see them nearer the tail of the timing sheet, and Robert Kubica managed to lap within 0.01s of Nick Heidfeld with the KERS firmly attached to the F1.09.

Shanghai 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m37.334s	22 Laps
2.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m37.450s	18 Laps
3.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m37.566s	19 Laps
4.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m37.672s	23 Laps
5.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m37.752s	20 Laps
6.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m37.764s	19 Laps
7.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m37.860s	24 Laps
8.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m27.710s	24 Laps
9.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m38.089s	19 Laps
10.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m38.195s	24 Laps
11.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m38.223s	23 Laps
12.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m38.274s	20 Laps
13.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m38.307s	26 Laps
14.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m38.319s	18 Laps
15.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m38.418s	20 Laps
16.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m38.456s	21 Laps
17.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m38.460s	19 Laps
18.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m38.463s	21 Laps
19.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m38.730s	25 Laps
20.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m38.825s	20 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Shanghai 2009: Friday Practice One

Nico Rosberg went quickest, but he was closely followed by his team mate, Kazuki Nakajima; the pair only being separated by 0.045s. The Brawns had led the first 90 minute session, but in the final few laps, the Williams stole the top slots and denied Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello the leadership of the timing sheet.

The Brawns therefore finished in third and fourth and the Ferraris fifth and sixth. Felipe Massa got the better of team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn’s lap being about 0.4s shy of Rosberg’s pace. Behind the Ferrari duo sits Lewis Hamilton, who unexpectedly found some speed in the MP4-24. Unfortunately, the second McLaren fared worse and Heikki Kovalainen could only manage seven laps before his car needed work doing to it.

Incidents happening in Malaysia this morning include a rather bizarre one involving Kimi Raikkonen. Apparently his KERS shorted out and this required the team to spend some time working on it. However, it is not entirely known if this caused Raikkonen’s cockpit extinguisher to be fired while Kimi was on the back straight. Autosport have reported both incidents, but any link between the two aren’t yet known to me.

A lot of drivers found themselves in the gravel or trundling over the grass, including Nelson Piquet, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Timo Glock, Jarno Trulli, Robert Kubica, Sebastien Bourdais and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Malaysia 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m36.260s	27 Laps
2.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m36.305s	25 Laps
3.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m36.430s	20 Laps
4.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m36.487s	22 Laps
5.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m36.561s	21 Laps
6.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m36.646s	18 Laps
7.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m36.699s	16 Laps
8.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m36.703s	23 Laps
9.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m36.747s	25 Laps
10.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m36.980s	27 Laps
11.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m36.982s	26 Laps
12.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m37.025s	20 Laps
13.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m37.039s	18 Laps
14.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m37.199s	20 Laps
15.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m37.241s	18 Laps
16.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m37.395s	12 Laps
17.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m37.634s	22 Laps
18.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m37.640s	17 Laps
19.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m38.022s	19 Laps
20.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m38.483s	7 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Malaysia 2009: Friday Practice One

Rubens Barrichello confirmed the pace of the Brawn by going second, just a tenth off the Williams pace. Fellow Brawn pilot Jenson Button also impressed with a fifth quickest time and just 0.3s shy of Rosberg. Jarno Trulli also showed the speed in the Toyota by going third. In the first practice the Toyotas didn’t look overly quick, but Trulli did a good job and team mate Timo Glock also managed a sixth fastest time.

Mark Webber also improved considerably in the Red Bull, the Australian popping his car into fourth and stamping his authority over his younger team mate. Sebastian Vettel spun his Red Bull while trying to match Webber’s pace, and once again did not complete the session. Eighth fastest is still good going though, and despite his spin Vettel should be pleased that his car can mix it with the top contenders. Scuderia Toro Rosso failed to raise their game though, and once again the Sebastians languished towards the bottom. Bourdais finished in sixteenth, Buemi in twentieth and last.

Ferrari finished in tenth and eleventh, this time Felipe Massa getting the better of Kimi Raikkonen, and McLaren fared even worse with Heikki Kovalainen in seventeenth and Lewis Hamilton in eighteenth. Hamilton is reported to have been complaining about his MP4-24 bottoming out on the Albert Park circuit.

Australia 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m26.053s	36 Laps
2.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m26.157s	38 Laps
3.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m26.350s	42 Laps
4.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m26.370s	30 Laps
5.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m26.374s	38 Laps
6.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m26.443s	42 Laps
7.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m26.560s	33 Laps
8.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m26.740s	19 Laps
9.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m27.040s	29 Laps
10.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m27.064s	35 Laps
11.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m27.204s	32 Laps
12.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m27.232s	28 Laps
13.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m27.282s	32 Laps
14.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m27.317s	34 Laps
15.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m27.398s	36 Laps
16.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m27.479s	36 Laps
17.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m27.802s	35 Laps
18.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m27.813s	31 Laps
19.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m27.828s	35 Laps
20.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m28.076s	33 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Australia 2009: Friday Practice Two

Not only was Rosberg’s Williams at the top of the tables, but team mate Kazuki Nakajima confirmed the pace by finishing in second, less than 0.1s slower. It would appear that the FW31 isn’t all that bad. The factory Toyota team failed to impress with Timo Glock in eighth and Jarno Trulli in twelfth.

The Ferraris ran well, and Kimi Raikkonen ended the morning session in third while Felipe Massa finished in seventh, although almost a second shy of the top three’s pace. Brawn delivered with Rubens Barrichello in fourth and Jenson Button in sixth, while McLaren managed fifth with Heikki Kovalainen, but a lowly sixteenth for Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was about 1.5s off his team mate’s pace.

Adrian Sutil ran well for Force India, now utilising Mercedes-Benz power among other things. The German completed twenty laps en route to ninth and finishing ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Renault. Nelson Piquet had a fairly torrid session and couldn’t improve on eighteenth, despite being the second-busiest driver of the morning.

The Red Bull family perhaps showed the most disappointing form this form, with Sebastian Vettel stopping on track with a hydraulic problem. The German could only complete four laps and therefore his time was well off the pace. Team mate Mark Webber fared a little better, although seventeenth isn’t exactly where he would like to be. Sebastien Buemi completed the most laps and finished in fifteenth while Sebastien Bourdais ended the morning in nineteenth.

Australia 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m26.687s	19 Laps
2.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m26.736s	21 Laps
3.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m26.750s	24 Laps
4.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m27.226s	21 Laps
5.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m27.453s	15 Laps
6.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m27.467s	12 Laps
7.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m27.642s	24 Laps
8.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m27.710s	24 Laps
9.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m27.993s	20 Laps
10.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m28.123s	16 Laps
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m28.137s	20 Laps
12.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m28.142s	21 Laps
13.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m28.511s	22 Laps
14.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m28.603s	16 Laps
15.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m28.785s	27 Laps
16.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m29.042s	18 Laps
17.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m29.081s	7 Laps
18.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m29.461s	25 Laps
19.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m29.499s	21 Laps
20.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m32.784s	4 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Australia 2009: Friday Practice One

Not only is Toyota a Japanese motor manufacturer, but the company also owns the very circuit Formula One is tearing up right now, so whether or not Timo’s lap was corporate remains a mystery, but let’s just say it isn’t the first time the squad have fuelled a car light in Japan to please the sponsors. Although, the team have clearly improved this season, and Glock has been driving superbly well recently.

That was a good day. This was the first time I have driven at the Fuji Speedway so I had to learn the track this morning. It didn’t take too long – two or three laps, but it’s not an easy circuit. It’s especially difficult to find the right compromise for the long high speed straight and the last sector which is very technical.

But we sorted out a lot of stuff and we brought everything together for the second practice, which went well. I had a nice lap near the beginning of the session and it’s great for the team to end up quickest on Friday here in Japan.

So far I’m happy and it would be nice to keep the position like this for the whole weekend. That will obviously be difficult but hopefully the local fans will give us an extra boost. Timo Glock.

Team mate Jarno Trulli also improved from his morning practice times, getting his TF108 into tenth. Fernando Alonso in the Renault was second by the close of play, the Singapore Grand Prix winner having bolted on a set of softs and narrowly missed out the top spot by running wide around a corner.

McLaren and Ferrari slipped down the tables, but I imagine this is of little concern to either team. Lewis Hamilton went third, Felipe Massa fourth, Kimi Raikkonen fifth and Heikki Kovalainen mixed it up on the midfield with ninth. Local hero Kazuki Nakajima improved on his morning time, ending his day in seventh and once again ahead of his more experienced team mate Nico Rosberg.

Adrian Sutil has enjoyed a good start to his weekend, the concert pianist finishing in eleventh before lunch, and sixteenth after. Giancarlo Fisichella, on the other hand, went from twentieth to eighteenth. David Coulthard improved, although it was only from nineteenth to seventeenth. Honda also remain towards the rear of the pack.

The difference between Glock’s fastest lap and Fisichella’s fastest lap was 1.616s, showing the field was closer together after lunch. In fact, Mark Webber and Kazuki Nakajima set exactly the same laptime, the Australian getting there first and therefore being awarded the higher position. It isn’t that unusual for two drivers in different teams to set the same time to within a thousandth of a second; qualifying for Jerez in 1997 saw three drivers equal on pace at the front of the grid.

The busiest driver of the afternoon was Jarno Trulli, setting 45 lap times, and least active was Sebastian Vettel, only completing 23 tours of Fuji Speedway. The drivers will reconvene for qualifying tomorrow.

Fuji 2008: Friday Free Practice Two

Original article by BlogF1.

Fuji 2008: Friday Afternoon Practice

The session saw no adverse weather and no real surprises, although David Coulthard found himself towards the bottom of the tables in nineteenth and just ahead of Force India pilot Giancarlo Fisichella. Conversely, Fisichella’s team mate Adrian Sutil ran well and found himself in eleventh after the ninety minutes were up. Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais enjoyed a good start to their weekend’s as well with Vettel getting into seventh and Bourdais in ninth.

All the cars were running the green-striped Bridgestone tyre, designed to promote environmental causes. Of course, they looked terrible on all but the Hondas, the subtle green on the Japanese cars managing to make the tyres look only just bearable. The busiest driver of the morning was Timo Glock, completing 37 laps in his Toyota. The least busiest was Heikki Kovalainen, only feeling the need to tour the Fuji Speedway 20 times.

The difference between the fastest and slowest laps was only 2.104s and the Japanese squads did not make a great impression; Honda in sixteenth and seventeenth and Toyota in fifteenth and eighteenth. Williams driver and local hero Kazuki Nakajima placed himself in tenth, powered by the Toyota engine.

Fuji 2008: Friday Free Practice One

Images Copyright © Williams and HondaF1.

Original article by BlogF1.

Fuji 2008: Friday Morning Practice

Lewis Hamilton went fastest in the morning session, but both Ferraris were very close behind and Felipe Massa was within a tenth of the McLaren drivers’ time. Mark Webber could only complete four laps before breaking the front of this car at the tunnel, and Jarno Trulli decided, after spinning on the start/finish straight, to drive the wrong way up the track for a few metres so he could get into the pitlane. For this, the Italian was severly reprimanded and fined, although Trulli believes he chose the safetst option at the time.

Rubens Barrichello also claimed a special connection with the barriers, although his Honda was too badly damaged. Nico Rosberg and Nelson Piquet Jr. appeared to run well, Rosberg finishing in sixth and Piquet in nineth. Jenson Button in tenth was also a nice surprise although the Red Bull four didn’t do so well, with Sebastian Vettel in eleventh, team mate Sebastien Bourdais in fourteenth, David Coulthard in fifteenth and Webber sulking somewhere in the motorhome.

Singapore 2008: Friday Free Practice One

Original article by BlogF1.

Singapore 2008: Friday Morning Practice

The downpour lasted for about 35 minutes, the main victim being Mark Webber who didn’t make it back to the pits – his Red Bull ended up in the tyre barrier. Once the rain had ceased though, the drivers poured out on to the track to get some running in, but the surface was still very slippery. It wasn’t long before the red flag was waved though as Kimi Raikkonen caught a white line and spun around, nudging the tyre barrier with his rear wing. A slow traipse back the pitlane for repairs essentially ruined the Finn’s afternoon. To add to the calamity, Raikkonen’s incident allowed water from the tyre wall to leak out down the corner, and combined with some lost fluid from the Ferrari, meant that Turn 9 suddenly became very treacherous.

Giancarlo Fisichella discovered this added danger the hard way as spun around several times, clouting the armco as he went. Nelson Piquet Jr too had a similar off, almost repeating Kimi’s efforts identically. However, after a further wait and in the dying moments, Nico Rosberg ventured out and the times started to tumble. On hard dry tyres though, Alonso took control and popped in a surprise quick lap that would remain until the chequered flag. Felipe Massa couldn’t match Alonso and by the time the Ferrari had conceded defeat, the drizzle started to fall again.

Notable lap times came from the Scuderia Toro Rossos again, emphasising good pace from the Ferrari-powered car. Sebastian Vettel readdressed the morning order by going seventh, ahead of team mate Sebastien Bourdais who settled for thirteenth. Adrian Sutil manage to get up to eighth, giving Force India a consolation prize as they started to mend Fisichella’s battered car.

Belgium 2008: Friday Free Practice Two

Original article by BlogF1.

Belgium 2008: Friday Afternoon Practice

Renault powered Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber (in the Renault and Red Bull respectively) were the top four’s closest challengers, Alonso taking fifth and Webber sixth. Just behind the Australian were both Scuderia Toro Rossos, with Sebastien Bourdais ahead of his team mate Sebastian Vettel. Although both Rossos are showing good pace at the moment, Vettel had some sideways moments and Bourdais’s car ground to a halt at the end of the 90-minute session after the teams had practiced some starts.

BMW are once again holding their cards closely and both drivers finished just outside the top-ten. However, as with most grand prix weekends this season, they will likely improve this afternoon and tomorrow. Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil displaced the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima and all three lapped the challenging circuit quicker than the Hondas. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello rest in nineteenth and twentieth.

Belgium 2008: Friday Free Practice One

Original article by BlogF1.

Belgium 2008: Friday Morning Practice

David Coulthard managed to climb into eighth place and led the two Force Indias into very respectable positions. McLaren and BMW disappointed today but as with previous sessions their final times shuld be taken with a rather large grain of salt. Lewis Hamilton went eleventh, followed by Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld. Heikki Kovalainen could only get as high as sixteenth. Both Super Aguris went slower in the afternoon session than they did in the morning.

One possible explanation for the slightly skewed times are the strategies the teams were employing, apparently some running with much higher fuel loads than others. Although Hamilton was clearly not enjoying his post-lunch run, having spun at T10 and then coming to a halt in the pit entry after his final run of the day. Kovalainen was also having a nightmare afternoon, his MP4-23 suffering with a gearbox problem. The Finn only managed eight laps.

Spain Friday Practice Two

Image courtesy of VRoig.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2008: Friday Afternoon Practice

Super Aguri were on track and Takuma Sato got within 0.2 seconds of twentieth placed driver Sebastian Vettel, while Force India were grouped together in sixteenth and seventeenth, Adrian Sutil getting the slight upper hand on his experienced team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. The mid-field were very tightly packed together, the gap from Timo Glock in eleventh and Nico Rosberg in twelfth only being one-thousandth of a second. In fact, from eleventh down to seventeenth was only 0.2s.

Spain Friday Practice One

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2008: Friday Morning Practice

Renault ran surprisingly well in the morning with Fernando Alonso going just 0.012s faster than his team mate Nelson Piquet Jr. The pair broke for lunch in sixth and seventh respectively. However, after resuming in the afternoon, they both went backwards and finished the day in fourteenth and fifteenth.

BMW had a mixed bag of results from Friday, Robert Kubica getting as high as eighth in the morning and repeating the feat in the afternoon. However, Nick Heidfeld started his day in eleventh and finished in thirteenth. Although as we all saw in Australia, the F1.08 is a great car during the race so I’m expecting both drivers to improve as they go into qualifying.

David Coulthard didn’t have a great session as he ran wide at Turn 12 and damaged his suspension on the kerbs. His car ended up being stranded in the gravel and caused a red flag. A short time later the second Red Bull of Mark Webber rolled down the pitlane, smoke billowing out the back, hinting at a failure of the Renault engine.

Other than that there were no big surprises from the first session. The second however emphasised just how determined Scuderia Toro Rosso are as Sebastian Vettel powered his car into fifth, missing out on fourth by 0.4s to Jenson Button’s Honda. Sixth place went to Jarno Trulli in the Toyota, who missed out on fifth by 0.019s, and Kovalainen and Kubica rounded out the top eight.

Giancarlo Fisichella again ran well in practice and put his Force India in ninth, Kazuki Nakajima getting ahead of Rubens Barrichello to take tenth. David Coulthard failed to set a time as engineers worked on his RB4 in the garage, mending the damage caused by his accident in the morning. Sebastien Bourdais also failed to set a lap time as his engine – a Ferrari – failed on the first lap.

The Super Aguris propped up the second timing sheet with Adrian Sutil not fairing as well as his team mate and settled for eighteenth.

Practice One Times

Practice Two Times

Original article by BlogF1.

Malaysia 2008 Free Practice: Massa & Hamilton Show Form