Formula One Latest: The Japanese Grand Prix – Practice Session 1
Bettor.com welcomes you to round sixteen of the 2010 Formula One World Championship! The event in question featured the first practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit.
With four Grands Prix remaining in the season, the race for the title has been tight with as many as five contenders with a chance of clinching the crown.
Who will come up victorious this weekend? Find out by starting with first practice as we bring you all the updates as they unravelled from Japan! The temperature was 23 degrees centigrade. Forecast was sunny and the track was dry.
The session got underway as drivers were out on track for their installation laps. It should be reminded to all our readers that Friday practice sessions are expected to be an hour and a half long. While it was dry on the day,
the forecast for Saturday and Sunday featured light to medium showers. Teams were therefore expected to make the most of the prevailing rain-less conditions.
Sakon Yamamoto headed out on track – one of two hometown drivers in the cast of 24. Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was the second local boy. Yamamoto was able to set the first timed lap of the session as an hour remained. As far as the
Virgin camp was concerned, D’ Ambrosio replaced Lucas di Grassi for the first practice session.
Kobayashi was effectively able to take the fastest time at the moment in question. However, celebrations were short lived as Hulkenberg bumped the Japanese driver to take the top spot. This was followed by a visit from the big
boys as Mark Webber was able to post a time for Red Bull. The record six times Japanese Grand Prix winner, Michael Schumacher, found himself fifth fastest.
The first drama of the race at Suzuka saw yellow flags when McLaren Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, collided with the barriers. The Briton’s session was effectively over. Replays revealed that the British driver went wide in the
second Degner corner.
As the session crossed the halfway stage, Sebastian Vettel topped the charts. The track was then cleared and deemed fit for race pace again. Renault claimed that there were ‘no significant developments this weekend’ on their car.
The France based team is placed fifth in the constructor’s championship and looks set to go unchallenged for the length of the season.
Adrian Sutil went second fastest. It is worth mentioning that the Force India driver topped second practice at Suzuka in 2009. Less than 30 minutes remained. Vettel further improved on his personal fastest time and remained on
top spot. Mark Webber joined the party and made it a Red Bull 1-2 a moment later.
With under 10 minutes to go, there were no major changes at the top end of the classification table. Lewis Hamilton’s time still stood fifth fastest.
It was perhaps a growing belief that the imminent rain would make practice a lot difficult than it already was. Therefore, in order to take advantage of dry conditions, 20 cars were out on track.
Moments later, Jenson Button went off at the same spot as his team mate and title rival, Lewis Hamilton. However, this time round the McLaren got off the hook unscathed. As the former Brawn GP driver re-joined the track, replays
provided conclusive evidence that he hit the kerbs hard and subsequently lost control of his car.
The session drew to a close. Kobayashi finished in 14th place and Yamamoto was unsurprisingly last.
Sebastian Vettel was able to set the fastest lap time ahead of team mate Mark Webber; making it a Red Bull 1-2. Kubica piped Sutil for third whereas Hamilton’s time remained fifth despite being inactive nearly halfway into the
session. Fernando Alonso, after a conservative drive, was down in 13th place after a lap time of 1 minute 34.169 seconds in 23 laps. Team mate, Felipe Massa was not that far as he claimed 11th position.
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