Fernando Alonso sets the best time in FP1 of 2012 Spanish Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has set the best time in first free Friday practice session of 2012 Spanish Grand Prix held at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
The Spaniard topped the timesheets of FP1 with his best time of 1 minute and 24.430 seconds while the track temperature rose to 30 degrees. Moreover, he covered 20 laps and run F2012 with different aerodynamic updates which they tried during the three-day
in-season test held at Mugello circuit last week.
Alonso was followed by the defending champion, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing who came second with his quickest time of 1 minute and 24.808 seconds. Vettel stayed ahead of Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber-Ferrari who set the third best time of 1 minute and
24.912 seconds.
The Japanese driver remained ahead of Jenson Button of McLaren who came fourth on the timesheets after setting his fastest time of 1 minute and 24.996 seconds. The Briton was followed by Valtteri Bottas of Williams who set the fifth best time of 1 minute
and 25.120 seconds and completed 24 laps.
Michael Schumacher of Mercedes covered 15 laps and set the sixth quickest lap time of 1 minute and 25.187 seconds. The seven-time world champion stayed ahead of Romain Grosjean of Lotus who set the 7th best time of 1 minute and 25.217 seconds and completed
16 laps.
The French driver remained ahead of Lewis Hamilton of McLaren who after covering 20 laps set the 8th fastest time of 1 minute and 25.252 seconds. It will be important to mention that the Woking based team ran their MP4-27 with a new higher front nose on
the front wing.
Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus came 9th with his best time of 1 minute and 25.285 seconds while he completed 29 laps. The Finnish driver was followed by Nico Hulkenberg of Force India who set the 10th quickest time of 1 minute and 25.339 seconds.
Hulkenberg stayed ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso who set the 11thbest time of 1 minute and 25.367 seconds, additionally, he covered 22 laps.
Felipe Massa of Ferrari, who has been seen struggling in the season so far, could only manage to set the 12th fastest time of 1 minute and 25.433 seconds after completing 21 laps.
The Brazilian driver was followed by Mark Webber of Red Bull who covered 23 laps and came 13th in the timesheets with his best lap time of 1 minute and 25.539 seconds. Webber remained ahead of Nico Rosberg of Mercedes completed 5 more laps than his teammate,
Schumacher and set his best time of 1 minute and 25.607 seconds.
Over and above, the predictions have been made that there will be a considerable rise in the cars’ pace in FP2 as the teams will run on soft Pirelli tyres.
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