Australian Grand Prix 2011: Second Practice Session Highlights – Part 2
Following a sudden turn of events with Team McLaren Mercedes topping the charts, did Red Bull and Ferrari have a reply?
Shortly after, Felipe Massa looked to do just that. The Brazilian driver entered the 1 minute 27 second zone with a 1 27.877 – Good enough for P-4 however. Meanwhile, it was Mercedes that impressed, somewhat surprisingly, as Nico Rosberg bisected the two McLarens at the top with a quick 1 minute 27.448 seconds. Sticking with the Mercedes-front, Michael Schumacher hadn’t been able to improve on his previous best time yet – Déjà vu 2010?
Fernando Alonso found himself down in 7th fastest – Perhaps, the Spaniard was conserving his machinery for an all out run in the final practice session and qualifying the following day?
There were some hiccups in the Red Bull camp as Vettel was heard over the radio complaining over vibrations in his front tyres to his race engineer.
Conditions were starting to get tricky as light moisture had appeared on track. Webber’s team however, assured the local driver that it would clear up in 5 minutes.
Looking down the order, the HRT F1 cars of Narain Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi had still not posted a competitive lap in the period. Interestingly, Team Lotus were on a similar strategy.
Jenson Button finally beat his teammate’s fastest time with a blistering 1 minute 26.706 seconds – The first driver to enter the 1 minute 26 second zone in the session – Were the McLarens running away with the show?
Felipe Massa, evidently, trying to pull a fast lap out of the bag, tried a little ‘too’ hard as he went off the track in the second sector – While speed is always top priority in Formula One, braking ‘intelligently’ is just as important a differentiating tool. However, the Brazilian was able to get back on the racing line without much damage to his car. Timo Glock was involved in a similar incident shortly afterwards complimented with a quick recovery – Driver or track, who was the culprit?
Moments later, it was yet another surprise package from Mercedes GP – This time, and even more surprisingly, it was in the form of Michael Schumacher who shot his way straight to the top with a quick 1 minute 26.590 seconds lap. Schumi’s former teammate, Barrichello went fourth fastest with a 1 minute 27.280 seconds dash on his eleventh lap of the session.
Continued in part 3...
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