A meaningless first Friday Practice Session at Marina Bay
The first practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix began with a damp track creating havoc for the teams as it ruined their plans. Mark Webber however, was able to set the fastest time however; these results are more or less irrelevant due to the unsettled
circumstances.
The shocker of the day was that Michael Schumacher was the second fastest just a tenth slower than Webber’s best time 1:54.589 followed by Adrian Sutil in the Force India in third place.
There were undoubtedly some good laps but these times meant very little for the Grand Prix ahead. Most of the top drivers were not able to get a traffic-free lap in these conditions and it will still not easy to predict what the weekend has in store for
us.
Sebastian Vettel timed in as the fourth fastest while Jenson Button was in sixth place being the faster of the two McLarens and was the first to score a competitive time on the hard compound tyres. Fernando Alonso did not spend much time setting hot laps
as compared to the others and ran comparisons of the new front wing back-to-back. Lewis Hamilton failed to find a gap in the traffic due to the problems caused by the damp track and as a result finished in 18th place after running for just 9 laps.
The circuit was hit by rain almost an hour before the session began and the humidity and setting sun kept the track damp throughout the session. All the cars put in an installation lap earlier than usual however, due to this odd situation, the bravest drivers
went out on the deceitful track in order to evaluate the conditions.
The top teams were rather interested in getting the hang of their new modifications rather than setting time, but the data gathered in wet conditions was fairly meaningless. Ferrari therefore used Massa as a barometer for the track conditions as he was asked
to put in lap after lap on intermediate tyres until his times started dropping off.
Besides that, preserving tyres and engines was the main concern for all the teams as they are allowed to use only four sets of intermediates for the whole weekend and all the drivers were being careful, as they did not want to burn a set as more thunderstorms
are expected on Saturday and Sunday.
The Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi was the fastest on the cut rubber setting a time around the 1:57 marker. Nevertheless, the slick tyres started to heat up to their operating temperature with 15 minutes resulting in a series of quick laps from Jenson Button.
Button stayed on top for some time until Vettel gained momentum and Schumacher set a brilliant lap on a track he has never raced on.
It seemed that Michael would stay on top for the first time this season but Webber timed a perfect lap in his run to set the fastest lap in his final attempt in the session. Besides that, Vinantonio Liuzzi also set an impressive lap in the Force India to
finish in 7th place while Robert Kubica finished in 9th place in his Renault. The two Sauber’s finished behind the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld seemed to get used to the car but finished in 13th place slower
than his teammate Kamui Kobayashi.
Nico Rosberg finished in 14th place and it was a rare occasion as Michael Schumacher was faster than Nico. Rubens Barrichello finished in 16th while Felipe Massa finished 19th behind Lewis Hamilton in 18th. However, these
times will not help the teams much as it looked like a survival session rather than a practice session and if the conditions do not settle until the second practice session, the teams will have a tough time on Saturday.
It seemed that the circuit might dry for the second session and enable the drivers to score times that are more “meaningful” on both hard and soft compounds of the slick tyres.
Tags: