Webber says McLarens looked very strong in practice sessions of 2011 Korean Grand Prix – Formula 1
Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing stated that the McLaren-Mercedes team looked very strong at the free second practice session of the 2011 Korean Grand Prix on Friday, October 14, 2011.
Lewis Hamilton topped the second practice session by clocking 1 minute and 50.828 seconds, followed closely by teammate Jenson Button who was only 0.104s behind him.
The track had barely dried after the first practice session, and most of the drivers had to run on intermediate tyres as opposed to soft and super soft set of tyres. As the session progressed, the tyres wore out very fast and driving became more and more
difficult on wet tyres. There was a collision between Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso and Nico Rosberg of the Mercedes team. The drivers had to really struggle their way through the track.
“It was pretty straightforward for everyone today - we drove on one set of tyres, so it wasn't particularly exciting,” Webber said. “We did some work, but it was limited knowing that the rest of the weekend will probably be dry, but we'll see.”
The drivers had to complete their practice session on a track that was still wet, which meant the tyres did not heat up to the required level and the teams were unable to test on the soft and super soft tyres.
Webber added, “The track takes a long time to dry out here. The slick tyre is the biggest thing - we need to learn how they are going to behave for us on the different fuel loads, we'd normally do that today but we'll have to move that to tomorrow morning.”
The second practice session ended with the McLaren-Mercedes, Ferrari, Toro Rosso squads and Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg clocking the fastest lap time and making it to the top ten positions.
As the teams made many mistakes on the track, and not much could be learnt with the tyres, a lot now depends on the third practice session. The teams are hoping that with improved track condition they will be able to test their upgrades and make necessary
improvements and adjustments for the race on Sunday, October 16, 2011.
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