20/09/2014
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's free practice session the air temperature is 28 degrees C, while the track temperature is 35. Humidity is 76%.
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in yesterday's second session, when the option tyres made their first appearance of the weekend however, teammate Nico Rosberg's flying lap on the softer rubber was destroyed when Pastor Maldonado went into the barriers, thereby bringing out the red flag.
Already on the dreaded 5 in terms of engine components, as the Venezuelan is handed another chassis after destroying his own in the incident one has to wonder if there is a limit on chassis.
Fernando Alonso was quick in both sessions, as were the Red Bulls, though Sebastian Vettel missed much of FP2 after suffering an engine failure in the final moments of FP1. His team worked wonders in changing the engine in time to get him out for the final ten minutes of the final session.
As ever, Williams is playing its cards close to its chest, using the Friday sessions merely to gather data rather than post competitive times. That said, Felipe Massa, in particular, was unhappy with his car's balance. Then again, neither was Hamilton... there's just no pleasing these guys.
Interestingly, there is a striking uniformity about the times in FP2, with McLaren heading force India, Toro Rosso and Sauber.
Tyres this weekend are soft and supersoft with Pirelli admitting that the difference between the two - in some cases over 2s - is bigger than anticipated.
Whilst Maldonado was the only crash of the day, there were a couple of brushes with the walls whilst almost every driver went off at one point or another.
The lights go green and though Grosjean is ready and waiting at the end of the pitlane, Chilton is actually the first driver on track, followed by Massa, Maldonado, Bottas and Kvyat.
Raikkonen almost trips up over a very slow Gutierrez. The Mexican subsequently goes on to post the first time of the day (1:53.971).
Sutil posts 53.383 and Magnussen 51.985 as Gutierrez complains that "the grip is really poor". Button posts 52.102 to make it a McLaren 1-2.
Ten minutes into the session, with four names on the board, all but Perez and the Mercedes duo have made an appearance.
As the Mercedes pair finally leave the pits, followed by Perez, Button goes quickest with a 51.487. Moments later Ricciardo, despite going offline early in the lap, posts 50.762 to leapfrog the McLaren driver.
Vettel, who posts 59.626 on his first lap, goes quickest in S2 going on to stop the clock at 50.393 and take the top spot. However, next time around Ricciardo goes quickest in all the three sectors to post 49.588.
Out come the yellow flags as Button takes to the escape road at T14 after missing the braking point and needs to perform a spin in order to get pointing in the right direction again.
On board with Vettel who gets very out of shape as he struggles to control the Red Bull on what remains a very dusty track.
Vergne goes third and teammate Kvyat fourth as the Williams, Ferrari, Mercedes duos and Hulkenberg remain the only drivers yet to post a time... after twenty-two minutes of running.
Rosberg goes quickest in S1 as teammate Hamilton finally leaves the pits. Elsewhere, Raikkonen posts 50.225 to go second. Maintaining the pace in S2, Rosberg crosses the line at 48.575 to go quickest.
A Force India engineer catches himself in time to prevent breaking the new radio rules. Elsewhere, a big, big slide from Hamilton in T5. The Briton reports that his engine briefly stalled and that he used the clutch to get it going again.
A 50.091 sees Masa go third ahead of Raikkonen, Vettel and Vergne.
Hamilton makes it a Mercedes 1-2 with a 49.337, albeit 0.762s off his teammate's pace. He subsequently runs wide in T23.
Bottas posts 49.952 to go fourth, just ahead of Alonso.
At half-time, it's: Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Bottas, Alonso, Massa, Raikkonen, Vettel, Vergne and Kvyat. Still no sign of the option tyres.
"Driveability is very bad at the moment," complains Hamilton.
Ricciardo splits the Mercedes pair with a 49.226, the Australian determined that the title is still within reach.
No sooner has Maldonado gone off at T7 than teammate Grosjean does the same at T16.
Ricciardo improves with a 49.118 but remains over 0.5s off Rosberg's pace. Moments later teammate Vettel improves to third with a 49.180.
Mercedes reports that the team has given Hamilton's car a "once over" following his earlier problems.
Kvyat frustrated with his car constantly locking-up; "I almost crashed at T5," he claims.
With 15:18 remaining, Rosberg is the first driver to heads out on the supersofts.
As the German begins his flying lap more and more drivers, also on the option rubber, join him. However, ahead of the Mercedes driver the track is fairly clear.
After a poor S1, he goes quickest in S2, finally crossing the line at 47.488, thereby improving by around a second. He can find a lot more time in S1.
Alonso goes quickest in S1, and again in S2. At the line the two-time world champion posts 47.299 to take the top spot, 0.189s ahead of Rosberg.
Ricciardo improves with a 47.350 to go second as more and more drivers make the switch to the softer rubber.
Massa goes fourth with a 47.909 with teammate Bottas slipping into fifth moments later (48.205). Raikkonen can only manage sixth (48.226).
A 47.738 sees Hamilton go fourth, the Briton 'only' managing PBs in all three sectors. Relay reveals a lock-up and a near thing with the barriers.
Perez is advised that the long line of cars ahead includes Chilton who "didn't get out of the way last time".
Magnussen can only manage eleventh (48.577), albeit one place ahead of his McLaren teammate.
A 47.693 sees Vergne improve to fourth, just ahead of Hamilton.
Ricciardo goes second with a 47.350 while teammate Vettel can only manage fifth (47.711) despite being quickest in S3.
Rosberg and Hamilton remain in their garages. With just over a minute remaining, and around 18 cars on track, they clearly feel they've done enough. Indeed, Rosberg is on the pit-wall in an animated conversation with Paddy Lowe, Andrew Shovlin and Toto Wolff.
The session ends with Alonso quickest, ahead of Ricciardo, Rosberg, Vergne, Vettel, Hamilton, Massa, Bottas, Raikkonen and Gutierrez.
Hulkenberg is eleventh, ahead of Magnussen, Button, Kvyat, Perez, Sutil, Grosjean, Maldonado, Bianchi, Kobayashi, Chilton and Ericsson.
Check out our Saturday gallery, here.
Chris Balfe