Practice 1: Alonso tops as Red Bull duo chase
22 July, 2011
Fernando Alonso ended the first practice session of the German GP weekend fastest of all
Jul.22 (PVM with Reuters) Under overcast and gloomy skies Fernando Alonso started the German Grand Prix weekend as he ended the British Grand Prix weekend – top of the results sheets.
Sebastian Vettel was thrid fastest in the opening practice session of his home Grand Prix
The Ferrari driver ended the first practice session at Nurburgring with a time of 1 minutes 31.894 seconds, which was 0.323 faster than the chasing Red Bull pair of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel who ended the session second and third respectively.
The world champion was top of the timing screens for most of the session.
Felipe Massa was fourth fastest in the other Ferrari.
Next up were the McLaren pair with Lewis Hamilton, fifth fastest, just over a second slower than Alonso’s best. Jenson Button ended the session sixth, albeit over half a second down on his team mate.
Thus the top three teams occupied the top six slots on the timing screens setting the scene for another epic Formula 1 weekend.
As has become the custom in this era of F1, teams were trying a vast array of tweaks and development parts in the morning session, while also sampling an updated version of Pirelli soft tyres. Friday’s have evolved into de facto testing days for teams in a time of no in season testing.
Karun Chandhok in the Lotus
Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi suffered the only big incident when he spun off late in the session while Michael Schumacher ploughed through the gravel.
A decent crowd, which had earlier clogged the roads in the isolated area of western Germany, was in attendance with Force India reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg taking the first session instead of Paul Di Resta meaning seven Germans were on track.
Karun Chandhok struggled for pace in the Team Lotus having been given the drive in place of Jarno Trulli on Thursday – he ended the session over two seconds down on team mate Heikki Kovalainen
Narain Karthikeyan was back in the HRT, taking over from Vitantonio Liuzzi for the morning session only. The Indian was over half a second up on rookie Daniel ricciardo in ther sister car.
Thursday, 22 July – Practice 1 Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:31.894 | 30 | |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 1:32.217 | 0.323 | 24 |
| 3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:32.268 | 0.374 | 27 |
| 4 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:32.681 | 0.787 | 23 |
| 5 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 1:32.996 | 1.102 | 18 |
| 6 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:33.628 | 1.734 | 22 |
| 7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1:33.787 | 1.893 | 33 |
| 8 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 1:33.832 | 1.938 | 27 |
| 9 | 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:33.858 | 1.964 | 26 |
| 10 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1:33.863 | 1.969 | 31 |
| 11 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:34.094 | 2.200 | 22 |
| 12 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:35.115 | 3.221 | 23 |
| 13 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:35.371 | 3.477 | 20 |
| 14 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | 1:35.389 | 3.495 | 24 |
| 15 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1:35.444 | 3.550 | 22 |
| 16 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 1:36.371 | 4.477 | 22 |
| 17 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | 1:36.392 | 4.498 | 29 |
| 18 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 1:36.842 | 4.948 | 29 |
| 19 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:36.882 | 4.988 | 27 |
| 20 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:38.504 | 6.610 | 22 |
| 21 | 21 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus | 1:38.765 | 6.871 | 19 |
| 22 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT | 1:39.279 | 7.385 | 24 |
| 23 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin Racing | 1:40.109 | 8.215 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin Racing | 1:40.428 | 8.534 | 22 |
Related posts:
- Alonso conquers Britain as Red Bull fumble
- Webber on pole from Vettel as Ferrari chase
- Practice 2: Massa tops as rain spoils day one
- Practice 2: Alonso tops on day one at home
- Practice 1: Webber and Valencia make peace
GO ALONSO!!!!GO FERRARI!!!BEAT RED BULL N MCLAREN !!!