Rookie F1

Free Practice 1

The session was red flagged and delayed by half an hour to make repairs to the track. There was damage to the kerbs at turns 3 and 14 that needed instant repairs, the session was therefore cut to a single hour. With five minutes to go the session is red flagged again when a piece of the kerb comes loose, but is soon restarted once the offending kerb is taken away. And for further excitement two photographers outside the McLaren garage have a fight.

• Ferrari: Alonso’s front and rear wing is covered in flo-vis paint. Front wing has a triple element and Red Bull style cascade, essentially 2 wings in 1. Massa takes a bit of air as he hits the kerbs at turn 7/8 a little too fast, a bolt from the kerb was seen to be sticking up before Massa hit it.
• Force India: Sutil is one of a few drivers to miss the Singapore Sling chicane. Di Resta is getting used to the new track and both drivers put in some good times early in the day, and both are in the top ten.
• Hispania: Karthikeyan is in for Liuzzi. Ricciardo is taking to this track for the first time and will be intent on learning the track in with the truncated time.
• Lotus: Kovalainen has a moment of deja vu when both front brakes catch fire after a gearbox issue.
• McLaren: Hamilton is taking the new rear wing out for a spin. Button has been suffering from chafing via his seat. Hamilton has changes made to his front suspension. A mix up with tyres keeps Hamilton in the garage during the last minutes after the red flag.
• Mercedes: Rosberg was being really aggressive through the Singapore Sling, taking lots of kerb but sets the first timed lap. Schumacher runs through the turn 10 chicane.
• Red Bull: Flo-vis paint on Webber’s rear wing and diffuser. There is also a tweak to the front wing to monitor too. Webber on a timed lap tries to get ahead of a much slower Glock and makes contact with his left rear and loses parts of his new front wing, he rejoins the session later.
• Renault: Petrov’s session finishes early, the new spec bodywork has tighter packaging around the engine and cooling is an issue.
• Sauber: Perez is another driver who is out here for the first time.
• Toro Rosso: Alguersuari mounts the kerbs and just avoids hits the wall.
• Williams: Barrichello will be trying out new brake material later.
• Virgin: Glock has a little spin just before turn 9, locking up front right brakes, and used the runoff to keep himself going. He was testing some new brake material which heats up differently, and now has reverted back to previous set up. Webber’s contact causes a puncture, ending his session to preserved a fresh set for FP2. D’Ambrosio also had issues with his new brakes.
  

Top FP1 times:

Read: Full FP1 Results

Free Practice 2:

During the break the FIA removed the kerbs at turn 13 and 14.

• Ferrari: Massa gets rather cosy with the concrete as he leaves a strip of rubber from his right rear, Alonso later on does the same with his left rear. Massa on the options puts in the fastest time, but he’s sliding about in the final sector.
• Force India: Di Resta’s car has a hydraulic brake issue which keeps him in the garage, but he manages to get some time out on track in the dying minutes.
• Hispania: Liuzzi is back in the car for this session.
• Lotus: The team have upped the brake size to cope with the temperature.
• McLaren: Hamilton seems to be having more issues with his front end as he stays in his garage, reported as a pedal adjustment for ‘driver preference’. Once he got out, he got on the kerbs at turn 7, he was pushing the car a little too hard and had to pull up to ready himself for another lap. Button’s session finishes early as he locks up going into turn 14, he stops the car in time to avoid damaging the front end in the barriers. Unable to engage reverse, he abandons his smoking brakes. Hamilton’s first run on the options is hindered by starting out on the wrong setting.
• Mercedes: Schumacher proved again how quick the car is in a straight line. Into turn 8 Rosberg
• Red Bull: Both drivers took off from where they finished the last session and occupy the top two spots. Vettel reigns supreme on both compounds and Webber struggles to get within 0.5 on heavy fuel runs.
• Renault: Senna has a big lock up at turn 5, but uses the run off to rejoin the track. Petrov is warned not to use KERS with 10 minutes to go.
• Sauber: A ragged lap from Kobayashi as he lost a few bits of bodywork riding a kerb, then skims the wall exiting the chicane.
• Toro Rosso: Alguersuari is first to set a time, later on he took some air across the first kerb of the chicane. A big bash by Buemi damages his front right on the exit of turn 21 and with Alguersuair suffering a mechanical issue both finish early.
• Williams: Maldonado uses the run off at turn 13 after going into it too quickly.
• Virgin: D’Ambrosio gets onto the kerbs and damages his front wing, he gets a replacement and goes back out to complete his programme.
  

Top FP2 times:

Read: Full FP2 Results