Red Bull fastest, McLaren satisfied and Ferrari expecting more after first Friday practice
The first Friday practice of the last round of the 2010 season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, unfolded at the Yas Marina Circuit after the unexpected morning rainfall. Just as anticipated, Red Bull Racing came out as the fastest team
after the first practice as Sebastian Vettel settled the fastest lap in just 1'42.760s. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was the second fastest with his best lap in 1'43.369s followed by the other Red Bull driver Mark Webber who chased Jenson Button for fourth
place stamping his quickest lap in 1'43.840. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was able to end at sixth place behind Robert Kubica’s Renault in 1'44.121s.
Although the practice sessions could not predict a lot about the final race day, the form of the cars as well as the drivers could somehow be estimated from their first cruise on the track.
Just like the rest of the season, Vettel was fast once again. So far, the young German driver has demonstrated the best practice and qualifying sessions of the season and has bagged nine pole positions, being the most frequent
pole sitter of the 2010 season.
He currently stands at third place in the drivers’ charts and after the race win of last weekend in Brazil, his chances of getting the first title of his career have become quite visible. The pace that he has shown at this practice
further proves his dominance and makes him a very strong contender of the title. But still, mathematically, his chances are lesser than his teammate, Webber, who stands at second place in the charts with 238 points.
Moreover, despite the fact that Red Bull owns the fastest car of the season, Fernando Alonso stands at the top of the charts’ tally and has the highest probability for bagging the title. Although he finished the practice at 6th place
yet the team is satisfied saying that they have made some very important calculations for the car and the Saturday’s qualifying is gaping to see him far stronger.
On the other hand, Hamilton believes that the practice has come up pretty nicely for him and the team is quite happy with his second place finish. His current fourth place in the charts although statistically keeps him in the title
battle yet the 24 points difference from the top makes his chances very bleak.
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