European GP: Review Friday’s Second Qualifying Session
Before the European Grand Prix began, McLaren’s said that it was not actually the Red Bull that threatens them rather it is the Ferrari that think they would give them a tough time. The Ferrari proved in the second qualifying session of Friday that their fear was not wrong. Ferrari has introduced the new aerodynamic system in the car for this race, which they hope is going to produce some very good results for the team.
It was the Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso who made a good use of the advancements in the car and set the best lap timing with 1m 39.283s ending 0.056s ahead of their rival Red Bull. The Red Bull’s man Sebastian Vettel concluded fastest in 1m 39.339s, leading his team mate Mark Webber with 0.144s. The Australian man finished at 1m 39.427s and ended at the third place of the day.
The Mercede’s driver, Nico Rosberg, who had the fastest lap on Friday morning session ended fourth with 1m 39.650s, he was chased by the by McLaren’s hero and the winner of the last two Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton who concluded in 1m 39.749s. Robert Kubica, the Renault’s racer finished in 1m 39.880s followed by Felipe Massa, the other Ferrari driver in 1m 39.947s.
Messa, the Brazilian driver had a bad spin while he was exiting through Turn Five, ending in blockage of the track. The incident was followed by showing a red flag and a crane was brought in to remove away the Ferrari car. However, he was able to come back on the track later and hence was able to improve his lap times.
Force India’s Adrian Sutil lapped in 1m 40.020s, which Jenson Button tried hard to beat but was not successful in his attempts and later ended in 1m 40.029s. The tenth place was occupied by Rubens Barrichello who marked the same place in the morning session as well, this time in 1m 40.174s.
Next stood the Mercedes’ man Michael Schumacher, covering in 1m 40.287s, 1.004s short of the top man of the session. 1m 40.387s was the fastest lap time of Vitantonio Liuzzi of Force India in the Q2.
The second spin of the day came from Vitaly Petrov of Renault at the Turn 14 however he was able to end at thirteenth place with 1m 40.618s. Both the men of BMW Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa were placed at fourteenth and the fifteenth places respectively with 1m 40.906s and 1m 40.945s respectively.
The two Toro Rosso men, Sebastien Buemi and Jamie Alguersuari sandwiched Nico Hulkenberg of the Williams, all lapping in 1m 41.115s, 1m 41.371s and 1m 41.457s in order.
Following them was the Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen, who ended the fastest among the teams that are new this season with his 1m 42.467s and was chased by his team mate Jarno Trulli who ended in 1m 42.993s.
The Virgin’s driver Timo Glock ended at twenty first, grouped with his team mate Lucas di Grassi who ended at twenty second place in 1m 43.811s and 1m 43.854s respectively. At the bottom were Bruno Senna and the Indian driver Karun Chandhok both from the HRT with 1m 44.095s and 1m 44.566s.
Overall the track was hot and also very dusty, with a consistent temperature of 44 degrees Celsius throughout. However, the second lap proved to be much better than the first for the drivers as they had fewer problems owing to the option of using Bridgestone’s soft compound tyres.
Well, more action is yet to be unfolded as the final practice sessions are held on Saturday, followed by Sunday where the final race day with the battle of the cars would unfold in Valencia, Spain.
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