03/11/2012
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole free practice session, the air temperature is 32 degrees C, while the track temperature is 47 degrees. It is very, very warm, but since qualifying and the race take place later in the day, as dusk begins to fall, along with the temperatures, this only adds to the challenge the teams and drivers face.
Sebastian Vettel led the way in yesterday's second session however, it wasn't all plain sailing for Red Bull as Mark Webber encountered a KERS problem.
Second quickest, and quickest in the opening session, was Lewis Hamilton, with teammate Jenson Button keeping him company at the top end of the timesheets in both sessions.
While Lotus also looked strong, particularly in FP2, Ferrari wasn't entirely convincing. Having already broken the official curfew on Friday, the Italian team did it again today as new components continue to arrive from Italy. Nonetheless, as Fernando Alonso struggles to keep Vettel in sight, the 0.836s gap in yesterday's session must be giving the Spaniard, and his team, cause for concern.
Williams look much improved here, while Sauber and Force India appeared a little lacklustre.
Tyres this weekend are medium and soft with Pirelli claiming a 0.4s - 0.8s difference between the two. Degradation is minimal thus far leading to claims that a one-stop strategy will be the norm tomorrow.
Perez leads a queue of ten cars at the end of the pitlane, Raikkonen among them. Everyone on primes (medium) at this stage.
In the Ferrari garage flo-vis is being applied (and how) to the underside of Alonso's revised front wing, which, it has to be said, is a work of art.
Raikkonen is told that as his engineers has no GPS he is unable to help him with advice on traffic.
While some drivers return to their pits, driving straight into the garages, others perform a dummy pit stop, leaving plenty of useful black rubber in place in the process.
Five minutes into the session everyone has been out though nobody has posted a time.
Kobayashi is the first driver out for a second run, the Japanese really needing a good result here. Though he looks to have lost his Sauber drive he will want to impress other would-be employers.
As Pic and Karthikeyan leave the pits Kobayashi crosses the line at 1:49.193. He's either very slow or running with a heavy fuel load. Next time around he posts 45.628 suggesting that he is carrying a lot of fuel. Glock goes second (47.968) ahead of Karthikeyan and Pic.
As Perez goes second (46.178), Raikkonen goes quickest in the first two sectors, subsequently crossing the line at 44.654. The Finn, and his teammate, looking strong this weekend.
Maldonado goes fifth (45.762), after a very close encounter with Pic. Elsewhere, Grosjean makes it a Lotus 1-2 with a 44.829. Moments later however, Perez splits the pair with a 44.821.
Hamilton goes quickest in S2, as Senna goes fourth overall (44.934). Having gone quickest in S3 also, Hamilton goes straight to the top of the timesheets with a 44.264.
As Raikkonen flies over the kerbs Maldonado posts 43.979 to go quickest. Grosjean also pushing mighty hard over these new kerbs.
On his first flying lap Massa goes fourth (44.370), watched by his father from the back of the Ferrari garage.
No sooner has Schumacher gone second (44.128) than Hamilton ups the ante with a 42.851 having gone quickest in all three sectors. Again.
Approaching half-time, all but Webber, Vettel, Alonso and Button have posted times, though the Australian is on track.
As Button and Alonso finally leave the pits, Webber goes fifth with a 44.214.
At half-time, it's: Hamilton, Maldonado, Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Webber, Raikkonen, Massa, Senna, Grosjean and Rosberg.
Either supreme confidence from Vettel or the German has a problem, 29:00 remaining and he's only completed an installation lap. That said, the lack of activity in his garage suggests confidence. Then again, it could be about the timing of the sessions and the cooling temperatures.
Another clean sweep of the sectors sees Hamilton raise the bar with a 42.481 while Webber goes second (43.849). Massa takes ninth just ahead of his teammate.
Thus far all times have been posted on the prime tyres.
A 43.786 sees Hulkenberg improve to second though the gap to Hamilton remains over 1.3s.
In the Red Bull garage mechanics are working on Vettel's brakes.
As Hamilton goes quickest in the first two sectors, Alonso improves to third overall. However, Hamilton's 42.148 leaves the Spaniard 1.486s adrift.
With 22:00 on the clock, Senna and Grosjean are the first drivers to switch to options as attention begins to focus on qualifying. Still no sign of Vettel.
Alonso, running the new front wing, is only 0.3s quicker than his teammate who is running the older version. Despite the updates and curfews it's clearly not working for the Spaniard and his team.
Button improves to second with a 42.879, 0.731s shy of his teammate as Senna and Grosjean, in a repeat of yesterday, show signs of improvement on the softs but not a significant improvement.
As mechanics continue to work on his car, it is clear that Vettel does indeed have a brake problem. However, the German remains seated in his RBR8, looking, to all intents and purposes, as though he doesn't have a care in the world.
Grosjean improves to third (43.261) while Senna remains eleventh (44.071). Still the only drivers to have run on the option rubber.
With 14:00 on the clock, air temperature has dropped to 31 degrees C and the track temperature 41 degrees.
All goes quiet as the drivers prepare for the final phase, in the Red Bull garage the mechanics appear to be putting the finishing touches to Vettel's car.
McLaren tweets that Lewis Hamilton had to use the bathroom at the back of the garage - still wearing his helmet. "Not as easy as it looks" says the Woking outfit.
With 11:00 on the clock there is nobody on track.
It's: Hamilton, Button, Grosjean, Maldonado, Webber, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Rosberg, Massa and di Resta.
Finally, an engine firs up, it's Hulkenberg, the German heads down the pitlane with Kovalainen, Petrov and Maldonado in hot pursuit.
Sauber tweets that Kobayashi much happier with his car's balance.
Other than Vettel, Vergne is the last driver to leave the pits, the Frenchman still on the harder rubber. Everyone else is on the softs.
As Webber posts 42.743, remaining third, teammate Vettel finally leaves the pits.
Hamilton goes quickest in S1 as PBs in the final two sectors see Button improve to 42.240. Quickest again S2, Hamilton crosses the line at 42.130.
Vettel's first flying lap sees the German back off in S3, having posted PBs in the first two sectors (naturally). As we saw yesterday, traffic is a real problem here.
No significant improvements, lots of PBs but no purples.
That said, Vettel goes quickest in S2, finally crossing the line at 42.614 to go third. In the Red Bull garage, and in the cockpit of the RBR8, there's a huge sigh of relief.
The session ends with Hamilton quickest, ahead of Button, Vettel, Webber, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Maldonado, Alonso, Raikkonen and di Resta.
Massa is eleventh, ahead of Perez, Rosberg, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Vergne, Senna, Ricciardo, Kovalainen, Glock, Pic, Petrov, de la Rosa and Karthikeyan.
McLaren looking very good, as it did yesterday, with Hamilton, in particular, looking to be a man on a mission.
However, while attention naturally focuses on Vettel, let's not forget that Alonso remains 0.6s off the German's pace.