23/05/2013
NEWS STORY
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Mat Coch writes:
Nico Rosberg gained the laurels after setting the fastest time in both opening practice sessions, though this afternoon’s perhaps rather less meaningful than the morning’s as teams shifted focus to race set up.
Opening practice was a venture into the unknown; a dirty track, a totally new one to some, which saw drivers rediscovering their cars before fine tuning their setups.
Rosberg set the early running, confirming Mercedes expected one-lap pace which was only reinforced by Lewis Hamilton not far behind in fifth.
As in the opening session the Sauber drivers were first on track, queuing at the end of the pitlane as the lights turned green. Marussia, which had comparatively little running this morning, was also out early with both Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi.
And where this morning's session was punctuated by installation lapsy, followed by long stretches without a car on track, the second session started with teams launching straight into their programmes.
Williams, which had compared different nose cones between Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas' cars in opening practice, was also on track early; Maldonado setting the fastest time with a 1:18.863.
It was soon bettered by Bottas, the Finn stopping the watches at 1:18.360, as the circuit bore witness to almost all drivers early on. Still, times were two seconds adrift of Rosberg's fastest time from the morning session.
However from there times began to tumble, triggered by Sergio Perez on a 1:17.854 before being immediately bettered by Kimi Raikkonen with a 1:17.309. Raikkonen was out of position in the earlier session, managing just the eleventh fastest time while teammate Romain Grosjean was third. As if to reinforce that fact Grosjean soon bettered Raikkonen's time by three tenths, dipping into the 1:16 bracket for the first time in the session.
After ten minutes the action was non-stop with all but Vettel on track; Grosjean going faster still while Hamilton locked up, missing the apex at Mirabeau. Recovering, he jumped to fourth on the timing screens, though almost six tenths of a second down on his Lotus rival.
Ahead of Hamilton was Rosberg, proving Mercedes morning pace was no fluke while Felipe Massa was not far behind, just two tenths shy of Grosjean's chart-topping pace. He was soon joined by Fernando Alonso who set a time just one-thousandth of a second faster than his teammate, suggesting the Ferrari pair were getting the most out of their cars.
With the track continually evolving it wasn't long before times dipped below the 1:16 mark, both Mercedes drivers and Grosjean lapping the two-mile circuit in under seventy-six seconds. Not to be left out Fernando Alonso set a time of 1:15.519, beating the best time from the same session last year.
With most drivers having completed a number of laps early the track fell comparatively quiet after twenty minutes, though Raikkonen, Vergne and Ricciardo were the first to sample Pirelli's supersoft tyres.
Back in the pits Sebastian Vettel had sat out the first part of the session as Red Bull worked on his car, fitting new parts to the rear. While Vettel sat patiently in the garage teammate Webber was on track lapping some half a second off the pace of those ahead.
Finally, after nearly twenty-five minutes , Vettel ventured out on circuit as Mark Webber returned to the garage with damage to his front wing and his front suspension full of feathers. Immediately on the pace, Vettel set the seventh fastest time with a 1:16.014 on his first flying lap.
The bar however had been lowered further still, Kimi Raikkonen setting a 1:15.511 on a set of supersoft tyres, beating Alonso's previous best by eight thousandths of a second. Raikkonen had five laps on his tyres to Alonso's four, though the Ferrari driver set his time on the harder of the two compound tyres.
Not to be outdone Rosberg, with a set of the red walled supersofts, took to the track and clocked the fastest time in each sector on his way to a 1:14.759, three quarters of a second faster than Raikkonen.
Ste Devote had been a busy place this morning and this afternoon Pic joined the list of drivers to take to the escape road after missing his braking marker into the first turn. A little further around the lap Max Chilton almost lost his Marussia at the exit of Casino Square, drifting the car down the hill towards Mirabeau, though he got off lightly compared with Romain Grosjean.
Thirty-five minutes into the session Grosjean crashed out, understeering into the barriers at Ste Devote. With the front left wheel all but knocked off, marshals swept clear the debris under double-waved yellow flags as the Lotus was solemnly craned off the circuit. It was an unadulterated driving mistake, Grosjean simply carrying too much speed into the corner before locking the brakes, losing all steering and ploughing helplessly into the wall.
With most cars remaining in the garage while Grosjean's car was hauled clear the red flag was shown due to kerb damage at turn thirteen; the entry to the Swimming Pool. The problem was promptly resolved by track workers, with cars soon back on track. Indeed with the red flag withdrawn it was a stampede down the pit lane as cars poured back on track, including Button taking his first chance to sample the supersoft tyres.
Fernando Alonso came close to joining Grosjean on the sidelines when he came across Nico Hulkenberg at Rascasse. As the Sauber made its way ponderously back to the pits Alonso, on a quick lap, arrived on the scene with little time to react. Slithering around the corner he only narrowly missed the outside wall as Hulkenberg skulked his way back in to pit lane, complaining he wasn't warned of the approaching Alonso.
Alonso's moment was evidence of the fact traffic was a problem throughout the session; Mark Webber held up Button, while Gutierrez made it rather more difficult than it needed to be for Ricciardo.
With half the session over teams began to shift their focus towards race pace, times beginning to noticeably slow as Fernando Alonso grabbed his Ferrari by the scruff of the neck and muscled it around the circuit.
His aggressive approach had dropped his best time to 1:15.196, more than four tenths off Rosberg's best but some eight tenths of a second faster than championship rival Sebastian Vettel.
The reigning world champion was conspicuously absent from the top of the time sheets, following on from being just tenth fastest in the morning session. A best lap of just 1:16.014 meant he was well over a second off Rosberg's pace; even Webber was sixth tenths faster despite rather unusually picking up a bird earlier on. Indeed the session was almost identical to first practice as the Red Bull duo trailed Rosberg by 1.185 seconds (Vettel) and 0.825 (Webber).
A calmer Fernando Alonso showed consistent pace, while Rosberg complained about graining on his rear tyres. Times however had slowed by some six seconds per lap, only marginally faster than those set by Sam Bird during GP2 practice earlier in the day.
With twenty minutes remaining Mercedes gave Rosberg the message that the surface of his tyres was too hot, a comment which suggested the squad is still struggling for tyre life.
Cooling the tyres however was easier said than done with all cars, with the exception of Grosjean, out on track. It left very little clear track as Felipe Massa found himself caught behind Chilton's Marussia. Massa's engineer Rob Smedley had suggested dropping back, even though it would see him hold up Rosberg and Adrian Sutil, "oh well, that's life," he seemed to smirk over the radio.
In the midst of race simulations times seemed settled in the 1:20 to 1:21 bracket, or somewhere in the mid 1:19's for those on fresher rubber. After a twenty lap run on the softer compound Pirellis Nico Rosberg experienced a drop off in the region of two seconds per lap from the beginning to the end of his stint, raising thoughts that perhaps come Sunday a one-stop strategy is not out of the question.
As the session drew towards a close, traffic was as busy as ever; Webber carving his way passed Jules Bianchi after setting a string of fast race-pace laps, before slowing in front of the Marussia as if to show his disdain for being held up.
With five minutes remaining Sergio Perez halted his car at the end of the pit lane after being told to stop the car, though McLaren mechanics soon had it restarted and sent him on his way.
In race trim Webber appeared competitive while Mercedes appeared to spend the latter part of the session focussing on strategy options. Given its high wear so far this season it's expected both Rosberg and Hamilton will be compelled to stop twice though to have a realistic chance of victory a one stop strategy appears a must.
Elsewhere Raikkonen and Lotus appear competitive, the Finn setting a 1:18.815 late in the session when rivals were lapping in the low 1:20 region. Massa too showed similarly strong pace, though while Raikkonen used the soft tyres, Massa had set his time on 28-lap old set of supersofts.
Rosberg setting the fastest time therefore carries little weight in the afternoon session as teams spent much of it focussed on long run pace. The fastest times, set early, will give Mercedes hope of a front row lock out while further down teams will begin factoring the Brackley squad in to their strategies with a view to a traffic jam in the early stages of Sunday's Grand Prix.