13/05/2016
NEWS STORY
Sebastian Vettel headed a Ferrari 1-2 in this morning's opening session. However, it must be pointed out that his and Kimi Raikkonen's times were set on the soft tyre, with nobody else using that particular compound in the entire session.
That said, we know from pre-season testing here that Kimi Raikkonen was particularly impressive on the soft rubber, posting a best time only marginally off anything set by the supersoft and even the ultra.
Naturally, the Mercedes duo were next up, ahead of the Red Bull duo - which included Max Verstappen - Bottas, Sainz, Massa and Alonso.
There were no real incidents of note, Massa twice getting it wrong in T5, whilst a number of other drivers, particularly the Haas duo, were unhappy with the handling of their cars.
As expected there are lots of updates, with McLaren appearing to lead the way, its new front wing looking incredibly intricate and expensive.
Spare a thought for Esteban Ocon who failed to post a time in the Renault due to technical issues, though at least he gets to try the Mercedes in the post-GP test here. Jolyon Palmer is back in the Renault this afternoon.
As we await the green light, the air temperature is 20 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 41 degrees. It remains bright and sunny, though there are a few clouds in the distance. Indeed, earlier this week UBIMET, the FIA's meteorologist forecast rain for this session and a storm during qualifying.
The lights do indeed turn green but it is over a minute before an engine first to life, that of the Mercedes in the back of Haryanto's Manor. He is followed by Grosjean, Nasr, Gutierrez and Wehrlein.
Haryanto posts 35.383 but this is soon beaten by Wehrlein, Nasr and Grosjean who breaks the beam at 28.595. Moments later Raikkonen posts 26.525, the Finn now on the mediums.
As Perez runs wide in T9, heading off over the kitty litter, Magnussen posts 28.040 to go second, only to be demoted by the Toro Rosso duo in quick succession.
As Raikkonen improves by 0.003s, fellow Finn Bottas posts 26.924 to take second.
Going quickest in the first and third sectors, Vettel goes quickest overall, stopping the clock at 26.306.
More problems for Renault as Palmer parts company with his left-rear tyre on the pit straight. Remember, Ocon had a puncture at the start of FP1, whilst the team had a number of issues in China, Magnussen suffering a suspension failure.
"Are you OK," asks the team, "no, I've lost the rear-left tyre," says the Briton.
At first the VSC is deployed as the Renault is lifted to safety, but moments later the session is red flagged.
After several minutes the session resumes.
Whilst Raikkonen and Vettel set their times on the medium rubber, the Finn has now switched back to softs.
Local hero Alonso goers quickest with a 26.268 but his moment in the spotlight is short-lived, Hamilton posting 25.607 moments later. Indeed the Spaniard is forced down to third when Verstappen slips in a 25.939.
Told he was P1, Alonso replies: "Ah, it's OK?" "Yeh, it's OK," he is assured.
On the softs, Raikkonen goes quick in all three sectors, retaking the top spot with a 24.176.
Also on the softs, Sainz now goes second, the Spaniard posting a 25.131.
"We're analysing Palmer's tyre issue now," says Pirelli, "as soon as we have some more facts we will let you know the cause."
A problem for Button who is freewheeling down the pitlane. "We're lucky it's downhill," he tells the team, "the engine had stopped already."
Now on softs, Grosjean improves to fifth with a 25.899, Hamilton (third) currently the only driver in the top five not on softs.
Oops! Massa does well to keep it all together as his car snaps out in T9.
As Pirelli investigates Palmer's issue, Magnussen, on softs, improves to eighth with a 26.244
"As we thought, there's a difference of just over a second between the medium and the soft compounds," confirms Pirelli.
Having posted a PB in S1, Vettel runs wide in T7 and subsequently aborts the lap.
No such problems for Ricciardo (softs) who posts PBs in all three sectors, crossing the line at 25.194 to go third.
A 25.017 sees Vettel go second, the German still 0.841s down on his Ferrari teammate. Meanwhile, Verstappen goes fifth with a 25.375, only marginally off Ricciardo's time but on the medium rubber.
Going quickest in the two final sectors, Rosberg (softs) posts 23.922 to go 0.254s quicker than Raikkonen. The gap to Vettel is 1.095s.
An impressive lap from Hulkenberg (softs) who goes eighth with a 25.453.
At 'half-time', it's: Rosberg, Raikkonen, Vettel, Sainz, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Perez, Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Bottas. Of those ten, Verstappen and Hamilton have yet to run on the softs.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.
As Raikkonen is told to slow and pit as he has a fuel system issue, Hamilton heads out on the softs.
Alonso posts 25.342 to go sixth as Hamilton begins his first flying lap on the softs.
The Briton posts PBs in the first two sectors but it's a scruffy lap and a poor final sector due to traffic means he can only manage third (24.641).
As ever, attention now switches to Sunday, with drivers on longer runs with high fuel.
Gutierrez clearly has an issue (again), the youngster is out of his car and in conversation with a couple of mechanics.
The front and sides of Ricciardo's car is smothered in flo-vis as Red Bull seeks to gain as much info as possible. Teammate Verstappen is finally on the soft rubber but isn't looking to post a fast time.
Raikkonen is back on track following his earlier scare, though the Finn is only allowed one exploratory lap.
Rosberg almost trips up over Magnussen when the Swede locks-up in T10.
As Button finally reappears, Palmer also looks likely to get another shot.
Grosjean continues to criticise his car. "The car is very, very, very difficult to drive," he responds, when told that Hulkenberg is up ahead.
Palmer posts 27.428 to go 19th as Button improves to 12 with a 25.893.
With 15 minutes remaining, Raikkonen reports a "little bit of rain at T4".
"There's actually a bit of rain coming down," confirms Pirelli, "but nothing that should bring the intermediates out. For now, anyway."
Locking-up in T5, Grosjean's frustration with the Haas is mounting, the Frenchman now resorting to bad language. We pick up an "undriveable" amongst the profanities.
Despite how bad the Haas might be here - and it's not the only car struggling - Gutierrez is chomping at the bit to get back on track.
Kvyat (41) has completed the most laps thus far, ahead of Sainz and Ericsson (39), Nasr (38), Magnussen (37) and Haryanto (36).
As the session winds down, Rosberg continues to set a very strong pace on his long medium run.
Indeed, the session ends with the timesheet looking all too familiar, in the sense that a Mercedes leads the way. However, Raikkonen is very much in the picture, around half-a-second quicker than Hamilton.
To sum up, it's Rosberg ahead of Raikkonen with Hamilton third ahead of Vettel, Sainz, Ricciardo, Alonso, Verstappen, Perez and Hulkenberg.
Bottas is eleventh, ahead of Button, Grosjean, Magnussen, Kvyat, Massa, Palmer, Wehrlein, Haryanto, Nasr, Gutierrez and Ericsson.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.