Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso leads first practice session at the Turkish Grand Prix: Formula One News
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso got his scarlet car on the top of the time sheets in the first practice session of the Turkish Grand Prix. However, owing to the overall low key approach to the stint, it remains to be seen how significant a ‘victory’ it was for
the Spaniard.
Alonso was clocked at 1 minute 38.670 seconds – Nearly 2 seconds faster than the rest of the field.
A surprise package in the form of Mercedes GP slotted in behind the former World Champion. Nico Rosberg, as seen in the past, was able to out-pace his much experienced teammate Michael Schumacher by five hundredths of a second but overall it was a strong
drive on part of the Ross Brawn’s boys. Another dark horse in the form of Renault followed the two German drivers. Nick Heidfeld posted the 4th fastest time while his teammate, Vitaly Petrov was 5th fastest; 0.063 seconds separated the
two drivers.
Kamui Kobayashi continued his strong run as he set the 6th quickest time. The second Ferrari featuring Felipe Massa went 7th fastest. The Brazilian was over 2 whole seconds slower than his teammate but managed to get his car in the
respectable 1 minute 40 second range.
Toro Rosso took 8th and 9th with newcomer Ricciardo going faster than his teammate Sebastien Buemi by nearly eight thousandths of a second. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg rounded up the top 10 – The difference between first and tenth
was nearly 3 seconds.
Conditions were wet and the majority struggled to get a feel of the track. Red Bull Racing, rather uncharacteristically, had a disastrous session after World Champion Sebastian Vettel crashed heavily in his car. His teammate, Mark Webber, set a lukewarm
11th fastest time with a 1 minute 42.564. To further dampen proceedings, both McLarens decided to hold back as they did a total of 5 laps amongst them, which could prove difficult later in the weekend.
With rain dominating proceedings, it was still unclear how the teams were going to line up for the race on Sunday. Perhaps the second practice session could prove to be a better yardstick.
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