08/10/2011
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole free practice session, the air temperature is 22 degrees C and the track temperature is 33 degrees. It is bright and sunny as it was yesterday and is likely to be tomorrow.
Jenson Button led the way in both of yesterday's sessions with world champion elect Sebastian Vettel crashing out in the first and later 'admitting that he wasn't fully awake.
While the Red Bulls appears to have a serious advantage, especially on heavy fuel, Lewis Hamilton insists they were running lighter than they claim.
Petrov is chomping at the bit when the lights go green, he's first down the pitlane then pulls to one side in order to make a practice start, Alguersuari, Glock, Buemi, Liuzzi and a myriad sweep past the stationary Russian.
Five minutes into the session all twenty-four drivers have been out for an installation lap.
Maldonado, who had minimal running yesterday having encountered problems in both sessions, is the first driver out for a second run. It was a bad day for Williams with teammate Barrichello crashing out in FP2.
The Venezuelan posts a 1:41.979 to get the session underway, elsewhere, Buemi, Liuzzi, d'Ambrosio, Ricciardo and a whole load of others are on track.
D'Ambrosio posts a 41.110 to take the top spot as Maldonado improves with a 41.424. Liuzzi goes third with a 42.496.
As Alguersuari posts 36.056, Button is the first of the big guns to go out, unsurprisingly, the McLaren driver is quickest in the first two sectors. At the line the only man who can potentially win the title other than Vettel posts a 33.493.Schumacher goes second with a 34.405 ahead of Kobayashi and Buemi.
Vettel is on track the German posting a 37.114 on what is thought to be a slightly heavier fuel load. Back in the Red Bull garage Webber looks anxious as (Renault) engine guys work furiously at the back of his car.
As Rosberg posts a 34.814, Vettel improves to second and Button posts 33.044.
As Barrichello complains about the handling of his car there's a big crash for Senna leaving the front left wheel of the Renault sitting on top of the nose of his car. Replay shows the Brazilian losing the back end after running wide and onto the Astroturf on the exit of the Spoon Curve and heading into the barriers on the opposite side of the track. While the driver is fine, the car is badly damaged, leaving his team with a monumental task before qualifying. As the session is red flagged the guys on the pitwall look less than impressed.
The session re-starts at 11:33 (local time), and, as one would expect, there is a mad scramble as drivers seek to get back to work after the interruption.
Pirelli believes there are going to some interesting tyre strategies this weekend what with the short pit stop (21s), the Italian company reckons we could be seeing two, possibly three stops. They also ponder the crossover point, the stage at which the soft (option) tyre becomes slower than the medium (prime).
Liuzzi pulls off track at almost the same point he stopped yesterday, just after 130R, the Italian having a difficult weekend. It's understood the problem is with the HRT's hydraulics.
Hamilton, having gone fourth, in now on a quicker lap, as are Alonso and Rosberg. The German, who goes quickest in the final two sectors, posts a 32.878 while Hamilton improves (33.414) but remains fourth.
Webber posts a 33.273 to go third, thereby demoting Alonso to fourth, while Hamilton continues to be quickest in S1 a section where the Red Bull should actually dominate.
As Kobayashi runs wide at Spoon, Schumacher goes quickest (32.725), the German like his teammate, one of the first to switch to the softer rubber.
Button is the first of the big guns - no offence to the Mercedes duo - to switch to the softs, which should give us an idea of the McLaren's true pace.
At the first split Button is 0.735s up on Schumacher, increasing the gap to 1.395 by the time he finishes S2. At the line, despite losing a little time in the final chicane, the Briton posts 31.255.
Alguersuari (soft) improves from sixteenth to seventh with a 33.545, the Toro Rossos looking a lot stronger this weekend.
With over eight minutes on the clock, Button returns to the pits having completed just the one hot lap. Surprisingly, he climbs from the car, suggesting that he and his team feels it already has enough info for qualifying.
No such confidence from Schumacher who is out for his second run on the softer rubber. Elsewhere, Hamilton (softs) goes second with a 31.762. Also posts 32.279 to go third.
All eyes on Vettel who finally switches to the softer rubber, the Red Bull looking very, very smooth. The lap times suggest that the German is running heavy, making no attempt at a qualifying run. Elsewhere, Webber is slightly quicker, but also, it appears, running heavy.
Perez takes a major excursion at the Spoon Curve, the Mexican making full use of the extremely generous run off.
The session ends with Button quickest - the third time this weekend - ahead of Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Massa, Schumacher, Rosberg, Petrov and Sutil.
Buemi is eleventh, ahead of Alguersuari, Kobayashi, Perez, di Resta, Maldonado, Senna, Barrichello, Trulli, Kovalainen, d'Ambrosio, Glock, Ricciardo and Liuzzi.