McLaren’s Jenson Button sets fastest time in Free Practice 1 of 2011 Japanese Grand Prix – Formula 1
McLaren driver Jenson Button topped the Free Practice 1 of the Japanese Grand Prix on October 7, 2011 at the Suzuka circuit.
All the teams participated in the morning practice session in Japan. The drivers used the sets of soft and medium tyres by Pirelli during their runs. Moreover, most of the drivers tested the new upgrades in their respective cars at the Suzuka circuit in
morning.
The Woking-based outfit driver took a strong start in the Japanese race weekend by finishing his run at the top place. Button set the fastest time of 1 minute and 33.634 seconds after running on the sets of soft and medium compounds. After battling it out
with their close rivals, the Brit ended up ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton has a gap of 0.091 seconds from Button in the morning practice session and after struggling with his MP4-26 car, he finished his run at the second position.
He was closely followed by the world-champion-in-waiting Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who set the third fastest time in morning and ended his session after crashing in the barriers at Degner Two.
After struggling for his best possible finish in the morning session, Fernando Alonso claimed fourth place for Ferrari in the end. The Spaniard had a gap of 0.738 seconds from Button and after running on the soft and medium tyres, he ended ahead of Red Bull
second driver Mark Webber.
Webber was 0.792 seconds off the pace behind McLaren’s Button in practice session 1 at the Suzuka circuit. After struggling against their rivals, he finished his run at the fifth place.
Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari impressed in the Free Practice session 1 by taking sixth position for his team. He was 1.303 seconds slower on the grid behind Button and after struggling with his STR6 car, he ended his session in a decent manner at the
Japanese racetrack.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa ended his session at the seventh place at the Suzuka circuit ahead of Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi, who came at the eighth place in the final Practice session 1 classification.
Mercedes GP driver Michael Schumacher was successful in finishing his session inside the top ten positions. The seven-time world champion finished his session at the ninth position ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov, who ended up in the tenth place.
Let’s see how the teams fare in the second practice session scheduled to take place later on Friday, October 7, 2011.
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