F1 Madness

Tag: free practice 2

  • 2013 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix Free Practice 2 Report

    The preparations for Sunday’s Singapore grand prix kicked off today with three hours of free practice around the floodlit Marina Bay circuit.

    The first free practice session was topped by the 2009 winner of the Singapore GP, Lewis Hamilton. However, free practice two is where Sebastian Vettel stamped his, and Red Bull’s authority, quite ominously.

    The three-time reigning world champion dominated the timing sheets for the majority of the session. Vettel not only set a time six tenths of a second quicker than teammate Mark Webber but more stunningly a full second faster than the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Vettel’s closest rival in the world championship fight, Fernando Alonso, managed the 6th quickest time.

    An initial flurry of activity had the entire field out on the red walled supersoft tyres simulating a qualifying run. The difference between the two compounds ranged from eight tenths of a second up to 1.4 seconds in the case of Mark Webber. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen was the only driver who elected not to run a quali sim instead focusing on the set-up and long run pace of the E21.

    A few minor excursions included both Mark Webber and Felipe Massa kissing the wall towards the end of the lap. Both these driver’s escaped without damage to their cars but Pastor Maldonado wasn’t as lucky. The Williams driver spent the majority of the session sliding his car around perilously close to the barriers; unfortunately for the Venezuelan it was one slide too many as he lost his front wing after skidding into the barriers. In his defence, the Williams looked a right handful  from the moment it left the pitlane. Romain Grosjean reported to his team that he had “hit something” and that he had lost the brakes.

    As the session settled in so the driver’s got on with the task of evaluating their long run pace. The differing fuel loads in the various cars is privileged information but irrespective of this knowledge the Red Bull looked on rails around the Marina Bay circuit. More importantly, was Vettel’s ability to set metronomically consistent lap times.

    It’s early days yet in this race weekend but Red Bull again look the odds on favourite to feature prominently. Nevertheless, some of the best qualifying laps that has been seen this season has come from Lewis Hamilton. The Brit may yet find something overnight and should be a good bet for a front row starting position if not a stolen pole.

    FP2Sing

  • F1 2013 Hungarian GP – Free Practice 2 Report

    F1 2013 Hungarian GP – Free Practice 2 Report

    The second free practice session for Sunday’s Hungarian GP was headed by Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

    An incident free second free practice session was run in scorching conditions around the Hungaroring this afternoon. The track temperature reached a high of 45 degrees celcius and the Red Bulls’ pace was just as hot.

    Where Mercedes is expected to hold the advantage over a single flying lap teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could not get closer than half a second to Sebastian Vettel’s fastest time of 1:21:264.

    The long runs didn’t swing it anyone else’s favour either. Mark Webber looked to be the quicker of the two Red Bull drivers on the medium compound tyres as the Australian set several laps within a tenth of each other. The soft compound tyre looks in the region of a second a lap faster than the white-walled medium tyre but the degradation level revealed a life-span of roughly eigth to ten laps.

    Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen was the only question mark with regards to his one lap pace as the Finn encountered traffic on both attempts of setting a flying lap. However, the Iceman did pop in a time quickest enough for eight after three flying laps while Grosjean set his fastest time on his second flying lap. An indication perhaps that the Lotus is looking after the softer compound a bit better than their competition.

    Ferrari looked to be struggling on the softer of the two compounds with a drop off of about two seconds being the result for both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

    As the checquered flag fell at the end of the second free practice session it was Red Bull who looked to have the best package both in quali and race trim. It’s up to the rest of the pack to find something overnight.

    fp2hun

  • F1 2013 – Free Practice 2 Report – British GP

    F1 2013 – Free Practice 2 Report – British GP

    The second free practice session for the British grand prix got underway in gloomy, overcast conditions. Thankfully, the dreaded rain that curtailed the morning’s  running stayed away for the most part.

    Drivers took advantage of improved conditions and set about testing new parts, and sorting out a set-up for Sunday’s all important race. Vettel was first out on track followed by teammate Webber – both on intermediate tyres. The two Red Bulls lapped consistently on both the hard and medium compound tyres.

    The two Toro Rosso drivers, in the running for the Red Bull seat in 2014, did their level best to impress ‘onlookers’ as they traded fastest laps between the pair of them and spent the better part of the session in the top end of the timing sheets.

    massa-fp2-2Felipe Massa’s miserable run continued as he wiped off the front-wing and broke the front-right suspension of his Ferrari. The rear-end of the Ferrari seemed to get away from the Brazilian as he exited Stowe corner. This makes it three crashes at all of the last three races for the man who says that his future with Ferrari is secure.

    Ferrari didn’t show too much of their hand in the long runs but Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen set competitive long run times in the mid to high 1 minute 38 region. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Rosberg set a competitive long run pace but soon dropped off to the 1 minute 39s.

    The track temperature didn’t reach any great heights with 20 degrees celcius the highest it climbed too. The rest of the weekend is expected to be dry and slightly hotter. Good news for the likes of Ferrari who seemed to struggle with getting the heat into the medium tyre in the cold conditions.

    McLaren continued to struggle with Button managing 11th and Perez 14th overall. No doubt they’d prefer the wet stuff this weekend.

    Mercedes Nico Rosberg, and qualifying ace of late, set the fastest time overall.

    FP2-timing