Singapore – Free Practice 1: Sebastian Vettel Between Dog and Wolf

As rain fell over the city of Singapore a few hours before the start of the trials, the drivers were met with a partially wet track. The temperature was then 29°C in the air and 28°C on the track, with 73% humidity, at the start of the session.

As Romain Grosjean returns to the cockpit of his Lotus E20 after his suspension, Ma Qing Hua will be at the wheel of the HRT F112, replacing Narain Karthikeyan. The drivers quickly take to the track, with Intermediate or Wet tires, while some cars are covered with the now essential aerodynamic flow visualization fluid.

Timo Glock is the first to set a timed lap, on Intermediate tires, in 2:24.476. Vergne improves significantly to 2:09.854 (Intermediate) while Lewis Hamilton, on Soft tires, shows that track conditions are not yet suitable to switch to slick tires.

While the track is only partially wet, the drivers must find the right compromise in terms of driving to be competitive while preserving the Intermediate tires that can quickly and significantly degrade.

On Soft tires, Kamui Kobayashi is the first to go under the two-minute mark, at 1:58.550, which should encourage more drivers to hit the track as thunderstorms are forecasted for the end of the session.

At mid-session, Kamui Kobayashi is leading with a time of 1:54.017, ahead of Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Timo Glock, Nico Hülkenberg, Bruno Senna, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne, Romain Grosjean, Charles Pic, Heikki Kovalainen, Pedro de la Rosa, and Ma Qing Hua.

Nico Rosberg, however, does not take long to seize the top of the standings by dropping below the 54-second mark with a time of 1:53.416, followed by Kimi Räikkönen at 1:53.268 and then 1:52.716. But the Finn’s time does not withstand the onslaught of Sergio Pérez (1:52.296), Sebastian Vettel (1:51.986), Nico Hülkenberg (1:51.864), and finally Pastor Maldonado (1:51.576).

Lewis Hamilton is next to reach the top of the timesheet with 1:50.615, quickly dethroned by Sebastian Vettel with 1:50.566.

However, the drivers take advantage of a dry end to the session to work on relatively long stints, while the second free practice session could indeed be disrupted by rain. Consequently, Sebastian Vettel’s fastest time holds until the checkered flag, while Nico Rosberg, with 26 laps to his name, was the most industrious man on the track.

Free Practice 1 Results of the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix: