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With a track
that was declared wet after showers started in the early morning the opening
Friday practice for the 2011 Korean Grand Prix would get underway. For the
AT&T Williams F1 team it would be Pastor Maldonado who would take to the
track first on his installation lap. He would complete his lap while
team-mate Rubens Barrichello would take to the track. With ten minutes of
the ninety minute session complete it would only be the McLaren's who were
yet to take to the track. Button would come out joining Sutil out on the
track, who was out for a second lap. Sutil would pit as Hamilton made it
onto the track joining Button. Pirelli has brought its soft and supersoft compounds for its first Korean
GP, but it would be most unlikely to see either tyre in use until the second
Friday practice session.
Di Resta would return to the track while Button and Hamilton would both pit
as the rain continued to fall. Di Resta would pit leaving the track empty.
With the track so wet it was not likely that the teams would put in any
serious running in this first session. With thirty minutes of the session
complete there were no drivers on the track and no times had been set.
Pastor was seen standing at the back of the Williams garage and looking like
he was not going back out again very soon. But Hamilton would take to the
track running on full wets. He would pit after just one very slow lap.
Rubens would go back to the Williams hospitality unit in order to pass the time, returning back a while later.
Half the session was completed and no times had been set.
But again we would see Hamilton come out this time joined by Chandhok in the
Lotus. Hamilton would start a timed lap as Buemi also took to the track.
Chandhok would pit while Hamilton set a 2m:05.484 lap time. Hamilton's lap
was a very careful one with the conditions still very difficult. Buemi would
also start a timed lap as Hamilton continued on the track. He would set a
2m:03.391 on his next lap. Buemi would set a 2m:07.906 on his first lap.
Buemi would set a 2m:06.240 on his next lap as Ricciardo took to the track
with just over thirty minutes remaining. A 2m:04.554 from Buemi as Kobayashi
also left the pits. A very slow 2m:13.882 from Ricciardo as we now also had Vergne and Rosberg out
on the track, followed by Karthikeyan. Vergne was in the Torro Rosso of
Alguersuari for this session. For the Williams team it would be Pastor who
would take to the track first. A 2m:06.423 from Kobayashi would see him third. Perez would be next out as
Buemi went fastest with a 2m:03.182. Ricciardo would lower his time with a
2m:11.194 while Rosberg moved into third with a 2m:06.241.
Kobayashi would move ahead of Rosberg with a 2m:04.938. More drivers would
start to come out including Schumacher, Alonso, and Di Resta. Pastor would
set his first time to be fifth, 2m:09.111. Pastor would run off the track as
we had Schumacher now third, 2m:04.824 followed by Kobayashi, Rosberg, Vergne, Pastor, and Ricciardo.
Buemi had pitted as Kobayashi moved up to second with a 2m:03.292. Sutil was
also out on the track as the drivers continued to struggle. Di Resta would
have a moment but was able to continue. Sutil was now fifth, 2m:05.229.
Pastor was down in ninth and had pitted. Perez would move up to fifth, but
this would become fourth on his next lap, 2m:03.800. Schumacher and Rosberg
had both pitted as the started the last fifteen minutes. We
also had both Virgin cars and Chandhok out on the track. Both Sauber's had
pitted and with thirteen minutes remaining the order was Buemi from
Kobayashi, Hamilton, Sutil, Schumacher, Perez, Di Resta, Rosberg, Vergne,
and Pastor in tenth. The weather radar was showing that the rain should clear at the end of this session.
Rubens would take to the track joined by Vettel. Even Vettel would run wide
at Turn eleven showing how difficult the conditions are. Both Mercedes cars
would return to the track, along with Kobayashi. Pastor would return to the
track while Chandhok would spin at Turn nine. He was able to continue as
Rubens set a 2m:08.218 to be tenth. Pastor was now eleventh with a time of
2m:08.762. Webber was now out on the track as Vettel' second lap would see
him seventh, 2m:04.425. Pastor would find a few tenths moving up to tenth
with a 2m:06.852. Rubens had dropped to thirteenth. Rosberg was now sixth
with a 2m:04.311 with Schumacher seventh. Rubens would complain that his car felt strange in the
middle of the corner. Webber was now tenth, 2m:05.183, as Rubens pitted.
Sutil was still fourth with Di Resta fifth. Sutil would top the times with a
2m:03.141 but he was passed by Vettel with a 2m:02.852. But Schumacher would
go fastest with a 2m:02.784 as the session came to a close.
So with the end of the session Schumacher was fastest from Vettel, Di Resta,
Sutil, Buemi, Kobayashi, Hamilton, Rosberg, Perez, and Webber in tenth. For
the Williams team Pastor would finish ahead of Rubens with Pastor twelfth
and Rubens fourteenth. Not a session that any real conclusions could be
drawn given the poor conditions. It would be a case of waiting till the next
session before there was any possibility for any dry running. |
