Chinese GP: Free Practice 1 – Vettel Still on Top

Although it is 26°C in the air and 30°C on the track, a thick misty veil covers the circuit. However, this does not prevent the drivers from quickly heading out for their installation laps. Lewis Hamilton is the first to make a mistake by missing his braking as he approaches the hairpin: a classic in Shanghai.

On its side, Scuderia Ferrari announces a new front wing and plans an aerodynamic testing program, as in Sepang. At Toro Rosso, Daniel Ricciardo replaces Jaime Alguersuari for this first free practice session, while Luis Razzia takes over Jarno Trulli’s seat at Team Lotus as Heikki Kovalainen will not give up his spot to Davide Valsecchi as initially planned. A similar operation at Force India where Nico Hülkenberg replaces Adrian Sutil.

After 18 minutes of the session, Narain Karthikeyan sets the first timed lap of the weekend at 1:51.516 before improving to 1:48.042. But Kamui Kobayashi brings the best time down to 1:45.609 until Hamilton shatters it with a 1:42.306 then 1:41.092.

At the end of the first half-hour of testing, Webber secured the best time with a 1:40.692, ahead of Hamilton, Button, Massa, Maldonado, Liuzzi, Kobayashi, Razia, Karthikeyan, and Barrichello. Red Bull continues in Shanghai to explore the KERS system, which they are expected to use for the second time in their history, by asking their drivers to complete laps without activating the system in order to assess its exact contribution.

A little later, Luis Razia destroys part of his front wing and returns slowly to the pits under the watchful eyes of Jarno Trulli.

Midway through the session, Sebastian Vettel takes back the fastest time from his teammate with a 1:39.540. At Mercedes, the track conditions now seem optimal for the drivers to go after the clock: Nico Rosberg is the first to take on the challenge, setting an initial benchmark time of 1:42.444. Vettel is ahead of Webber, Hamilton, Massa, Perez, Hülkenberg, Di Resta, Buemi, Button, and Ricciardo. Only Alonso, Glock, and Heidfeld have yet to register their names on the timesheet.

While Michael Schumacher struggles with his car and tires, Sebastian Vettel sets a new time of 1:38.739. Webber improves in turn but remains more than a second behind his teammate: both men are on a different testing program, as they have been since the start of the season.

Nick Heidfeld sets his first time at 1:41.431 and climbs to the 7th spot in the provisional standings while Heikki Kovalainen is in the Top 10. The drivers are making numerous small mistakes, and unfortunately for him, Nick Heidfeld is the first to bear the brunt of it. While pushing hard, ‘Quick Nick’ loses control of his car by riding the curb on the exit of turn 10, crashing his car into the wall: session over for the German after only 5 laps on track. Paul di Resta, for his part, makes an error in the first snail corner.

20 minutes before the checkered flag, Sebastian Vettel still leads the timing sheet ahead of Webber, Hamilton, Button, Heidfeld, Massa, Perez, Hülkenberg, Kovalainen, and Di Resta. Eleventh, Nico Rosberg is nearly three seconds behind Vettel and is ahead of Buemi, Barrichello, Ricciardo, Maldonado, Petrov, Schumacher, Kobayashi, D’Ambrosio, Liuzzi, Razia, and Karthikeyan. Quietly, the Williams team, which is experiencing a difficult start to the season, has thoroughly revised its rear setup to resolve transmission reliability issues.

After 8 installation laps, Fernando Alonso sets a first timed lap that is quite mediocre in 1:42.464, but the Spaniard corrects this by nearly a second in the following lap and moves up to 9th place. Timo Glock is now the only one without a timed lap: the German seems stuck in his garage.

After a long drift in turn 7, Pastor Maldonado remains stuck on a curb in a dangerous position in this fast sequence, which causes a yellow flag: no driver improves except for Timo Glock, who completes his first timed lap.

A few minutes before the end of the session, the Red Bull drivers are the only ones under the 1 minute 40 mark, ahead of the two McLaren drivers who remain at a good distance, over 2 seconds behind. Vitantonio Liuzzi ends his session in the grass and no significant improvement is noted under the checkered flag. Sebastian Vettel therefore retains the best time with 1:38.739, leading his teammate by 6 tenths, at the end of a very diligent session for most of the teams.

Results of Free Practice 1: Chinese Grand Prix