Red Bull, McLaren impress in Chinese Grand Prix FP1 while Sebastian Vettel tops – Formula 1
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull has once again been invincible in the Chinese Free Practice session 1. The German did a fastest of 1 minute and 38.739 seconds which was a clear 0.615 seconds faster than his teammate Mark Webber.
Red Bull showed its dominance right from the start of the race but it is still unclear whether their Kinetic Energy Recovery System is working or not. Behind Red Bull’s duo was the McLaren duo, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Both Hamilton and Button were
a second too slow in their MP4-26’s, which will not be the case in the Qualifiers because McLaren did some simulation tests on their new car.
Behind the Austrian and British teams was the Renault of Nick Heidfeld. Nick did some good laps in his R31 but stopped his car in the tyre wall after losing control of it. Nick’s teammate, Vitaly Petrov did some good runs in his R31 and finished ninth, almost
3 seconds slower than Vettel.
Felipe Massa was the sole driver of the Ferrari team in the top ten finishers. The Brazilian was slower than Vettel by 3 seconds but did some good laps in his Ferrari. Massa’s teammate, Fernando Alonso was down in 12th place which clearly indicates
that Ferrari are slower than ever in the 2011 season.
Sauber’s rookie, Sergio Perez, was seventh in his C31 while his teammate Kamui Kobayashi finished 19th. Williams’ Rookie Pastor Maldonado also put on a good show in China and finished 8th in his Cosworth-powered machine.
Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi came tenth with a fastest time of 1 minute and 41.328 seconds.
As the fastest lap time is not a concern for the teams before the Qualifiers, the teams are only going for reliability and mechanical tests. Hispania Racing Team, Virgin Racing Team and Team Lotus were also on the grid running some tests before going into
the Qualifiers and the race.
The Free Practice session 2 will follow shortly and some more upgrades are expected from the teams.
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