01/11/2014
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole practice session, the air temperature is 10 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 19 degrees. It is bright and beautiful, but a little cool. On the other hand it isn't as windy as it was yesterday afternoon.
Lewis Hamilton toped the timesheets in both of yesterday's session however, he missed the final 20 minutes of FP2 with a suspected hydraulics leak. Whilst some fear Mercedes reliability could yet decide the title, the Briton played down their fears and insists he remains fully confident.
Fernando Alonso was third quickest in FP2, ahead of Ricciardo, Massa and Raikkonen.
It was a troubled day for Red Bull with Ricciardo missing much of FP1 with an ERS issue whilst teammate Sebastian Vettel restricted his running in an attempt to 'save' his all-new powerplant for the remaining races. Incidentally, the German will take part in qualifying today but, in lieu of the fact that he has to start from the pitlane due to that power unit change, will only take part in Q1.
McLaren looked strong in FP1 but was not so impressive in the afternoon once the option (soft) tyres came into play. Consequently, Red Bull and Williams appear to be the biggest threat - if that's the right word - to Mercedes this weekend.
However, all this pales into significance in the wake of claims late yesterday that three teams - Force India, Sauber and Lotus - are considering boycotting tomorrow's race in reaction to the current state of the sport in terms of the divide between the haves and have-nots, a divide forced back into the spotlight by the failures of Caterham and Marussia, both of which are missing from this weekend's event.
The lights go green and Bottas leads Maldonado, Raikkonen and Grosjean out of the pits and up the hill to T1. Surprisingly, Vettel is another early riser.
Magnussen posts the first time of the day, the Dane stopping the clock at 1:48.261. Next time around the McLaren driver improves with a 41.567, whilst Vergne goes second with a 43.084.
As Gutierrez goes third (44.482), ahead of Button and Perez, all 18 drivers have been out, if only for an installation lap.
Magnussen and Button both improve to make it a McLaren 1-2, but moments late a 41.159 from Hulkenberg splits the Woking duo.
Sutil runs wide at T12, as the cameras pick up three 'sleeping policemen' that have been installed on the outside of the final corner overnight.
"Cold temperatures mean that tyres take longer to reach their ideal working range," tweets Pirelli. "So drivers do long runs to get heat into them."
A 39.820 sees Massa go quickest, as mechanics continue to work on Rosberg's car.
Drivers continue to fall foul of T12, Perez being the latest.
Bottas looks set to make it a Williams 1-2 until Kvyat bangs in a 40.526 to take the second spot.
As reported, Frank Williams is not here this weekend, the team founder is in hospital in England with a "pressure sore".
Ricciardo posts 40.073 to go second as teammate Vettel leaves the Red Bull garage. The German is the first driver to switch to the option rubber.
Ricciardo improves with a 39.693 to go quickest with Bottas slipping into second moments later, the Finn having been quickest of all in the first two sectors.
"There's something at my elbow which is disturbing me," complains Kvyat, the Russian currently fourth fastest (40.514).
Alonso posts 39.915 to go fourth and demote Kvyat.
Twenty-five minutes into the session, all but Rosberg, Vettel and Hamilton have posted times.
Vettel, who like yesterday appears to be focussing on high fuel running on options, posts 45.529 to go 16th. The German faces a long afternoon tomorrow.
Hamilton heads out for a single lap before heading back to the pits, as he returns teammate Rosberg heads down the pitlane.
At half-time, both Mercedes drivers are on track, circulating almost in tandem.
Hamilton posts 45.222 while Rosberg posts 47.636. The German asks about his brakes, as if he's been asked to try something. "It's not working Nico, but try a run" he is told.
Posting PBs in the first two sectors, Hamilton is quickest of all in S3, crossing the line at 40.064 to go fifth. Rosberg heads back to the pits.
Massa and Hamilton trade fastest sector times, the Brazilian going third overall with a 39.820 while the Mercedes driver spins at T12 after his rears lock-up.
Rosberg is back on track, the German still rooted at the foot of the timesheets. With 16:30 remaining he has only completed 8 laps, then again Alonso and Hamilton have completed 7.
Only four drivers on track, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Massa and Sutil.
As Rosberg improves to 17th (42.834), having run wide at T12, the cameras pick up a visitor to the Williams garage, Juan Pablo Montoya. Mind his head guys!
Bottas and Alonso switch to softs as Rosberg heads back to the pits and also takes on the softer rubber.
Alonso goes quickest in all three sectors, improving from 39.915 to 39.108, marginally (0.023s) off Hamilton's pace in FP2 yesterday.
Bottas goes goes quickest in all three sectors, raising the bar with a mighty impressive 38.437.
With 7:00 remaining all but Ricciardo, Rosberg and Vettel are on options as Massa goes quickest (38.214) only to be dropped to second when Hamilton bangs in a 37.107.
That's a mighty impressive lap, and over 5.7s faster than anything his teammate has done this morning.
Rosberg is on track but has a lot of cars ahead of him.
Having found a gap in the traffic, Rosberg posts a PB in S1. He posts another in S2, finally crossing the line at 37.991 top go second. He's 0.884s off the pace but not a bad effort all things considered.
A late improvement sees Maldonado go 12th, as Hulkenberg improves to seventh with a 38.960.
The session ends with Hamilton quickest, ahead of Rosberg, Massa, Bottas, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Sutil, Raikkonen and Button.
Magnussen is eleventh, ahead of Maldonado, Grosjean, Perez, Kvyat, Gutierrez, Verge and Vettel.
Check out our Saturday gallery, here.