European GP : Barrichello leads Maldonado in FP2


Rubens Barrichello
By Andrew Hooper
June 25 2011

AT&T Williams F1 driver Rubens Barrichello would finish ahead of team-mate Pastor Maldonado in the second Friday practice session for the 2011 European GP. Both drivers were outside the top ten with Rubens 12th and Pastor 13th. For the Williams team they again seemed to be struggling for pace and would have a lot of work to do overnight as they prepare for qualifying.

 
 European GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
Barrichello
 

AT&T Williams F1 drivers Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado finishing the opening Friday practice session in thirteenth and fifteenth. The team had spent the earlier session testing a new exhaust system as well as several other parts. The new front wing was reported to be working well. Now it was the second Friday practice session that would get underway with D'Ambrosio leaving the pit lane first, joined by Petrov. More drivers would take to the track including both Sauber's, Heidfeld, Buemi, and both Lotus cars. Pastor would be the first of the Williams cars to come out followed by Rubens. Massa was the first Ferrari
to leave the pit lane followed by Glock.

Rosberg was next out as D'Ambrosio set a 1m:47.730. Both Di Resta and Alguersuari's cars were in their pits with their mechanics working on them, Di Resta as the result of Hulkenberg's crash. As more times were set Perez would be fastest with a 1m:44.432 followed by Buemi and Kovalainen. Pastor would go fastest with a 1m:43.169, but he was quickly passed by Petrov with a 1m:42.232. But Massa would go fastest with a time of
1m:42.048.Pastor was now third while Rubens was down in thirteenth, 1m:51.519. Heidfeld would go fastest with a 1m:41.678. We only had Webber still in his pit as Rosberg pitted. Massa would again be fastest with a 1m:40.857 with Heidfeld second from Petrov. Rubens would improve to be fourth with a 1m:42.478, with Pastor now fifth, 1m:43.169. Alonso was on a quick lap moving straight to the top of the times with a lap of 1m:40.492.

After a slow first session Vettel was now up to pace setting a time that would put him in third, 1m:40.946. Rubens and Pastor were now in eighth and ninth. Button was up to sixth, 1m:41.753, as Rubens complained of problems under braking. Massa would improve with a 1m:40.695 but remained second. Petrov and Heidfeld were fourth and fifth. Rubens and Pastor had dropped to ninth and tenth as Webber finally took to the track. Vettel was on on quick lap as Hamilton moved up to fourth, 1m:41.148. Vettel's lap would see a lap of
1m:40.062 to now be fastest. Alonso and Massa were second and third, as Pastor pitted. Sutil had split the Williams pair moving up to tenth. After their first runs drivers would start to pit as Webber joined Vettel at the front. Webber would set a time of 1m:40.341 to be second.

Rubens would also pit as Vettel set a 1m:39.790 to maintain his position at the top of the times. Vettel would pit as Webber would set a 1m:40.006 but remained second. Alonso would move ahead of the Red Bull with a lap of 1m:39.960 to be second. Pastor had returned to the track, currently in thirteenth. Webber would respond to Alonso moving back up to second with a 1m:39.792. Pastor was out on the soft tyre and on his lap he looked a lot more comfortable. He would set a 1m:40.744 to be fifth. Rubens was now also back out with an hour and four minutes remaining. Perez was now tenth and Rubens eleventh. Di Resta and Alguersuari were still in their pits as the teams worked on their cars. Pastor continued his run on the softer tyres setting a 1m:40.301 to be fourth.

Vettel would return as Heidfeld moved up to fifth, 1m:40.577. Massa was sixth followed by Hamilton, Petrov, Button, and Perez in tenth. Kobayashi was out on the softer tyre as Alonso returned to the track. Rubens was down in thirteenth. Both Ferrari's were out on the medium tyre. Both Massa and Hamilton were on improved laps with Massa moving up to fourth, 1m:40.165. Hamilton would remain seventh after a slow last sector. At the front Vettel was fastest with a 1m:39.790 followed by Webber with a 1m:39.792. Alonso was third and Massa fourth. Pastor had pitted after his soft tyre run. Rubens would find time to move up to ninth with a 1m:41.617. Button was down in eleventh and complaining of no rear grip. Vettel had set a 1m:39.709 to now be 0.083 ahead of Webber. With fifty minutes remaining Pastor would return to the track. Rubens had pitted

The track was now fairly quite with just a handful of cars running. Alonso was fastest in sector one but his second sector was slow and he would not improve. Perez was out on the soft tyres finishing his lap with a 1m:40.531 to be sixth. Rubens was also back out on the track as we had Hamilton and Button ninth and tenth. Heidfeld was on the track running on the soft tyres. He was seventh with a 1m:40.577. ON his next lap he would set a 1m:39.040 to be fastest. Alonso would lock up his right front at Turn two forcing him to run wide. Rubens was also out on the soft tyre and his pace was improving. He would finish with a 1m:40.672 to be eighth. Pastor was now sixth as Webber took to the track. Rosberg was out on the option tyre and putting together a very nice lap. He would finish with a 1m:39.012 to move ahead of Heidfeld with a time of 1m:39.012.

Webber was also on the soft tyre with just under forty minutes remaining. Webber would set a 1m:38.531 to be fastest by 0.481 over Rosberg. Rubens would also improve on his next lap with a 1m:40.020 to be seventh. Pastor was now eighth with a 1m:40.301. Now it was Vettel's turn to set a quick time. He was fastest in sector one, a personal best in sector two, and fastest in the final sector. He would finish with a 1m:38.265, to again be fastest. Webber would again be fastest in sector one as Rubens pitted. Webber would get caught behind Pastor and would pit failing to finish his lap. Vettel's next lap would see him fastest in sector one, while Massa had set personal best times in the first two sectors. Massa would move up to third, 1m:38.564, as Vettel pitted. Hamilton and Button were in eleventh and twelfth. Hamilton was out on the track and on a quick lap. His lap would see him go straight to the top of the times with a 1m:38.195.

Schumacher was now third, 1m:38.315, while Button moved up to sixth, 1m:38.582. Now it was Alonso's turn going fastest with a 1m:38.184. Rubens and Pastor were now tenth and eleventh. Massa would set a 1m:38.443 to be fifth. Webber was now sixth with twenty five minutes remaining. Rubens would return to the track as Alonso continued to find pace going fastest in sector one. Petrov was now tenth, 1m:39.586, as Alonso set a 1m:37.968. This was even with a big lockup at the final corner. Pastor was now also out on the track with Rubens and Pastor now twelfth and thirteenth. Sutil was now eleventh, 1m:39.626, as we now had both Red Bull cars out on the track. Buemi was on a soft tyre run setting personal best times in the first two sectors. But he would fail to improve in the final sector.

Both Rubens and Pastor were on longer runs with twenty minutes remaining. Both Ferrari's were back out seeing nine of the top ten drivers out on the track. Fifth placed Massa would also pit briefly. Sixth placed Button was still in the pits with fifteen minutes remaining. But he would come out seeing the track quite busy. Alonso would return to his pit briefly as there was now ten minutes remaining. Alonso was fastest from Hamilton, Vettel, Schumacher, Massa, Button, Webber, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Petrov, Sutil, Rubens, and Pastor in thirteenth. Di Resta would finally take to the track on the soft tyre leaving just Alguersuari still having failed to complete a lap. Both Rubens and Pastor had completed over thirty laps. Apart from Alguersuari there were only two others cars in the pits. Buemi would pit briefly as Di Resta set a 1m:41.192 to be sixteenth.

Most drivers were doing their longer runs on the softer tyre which may give an indication of the direction the teams will go in their tyre strategy. Di Resta would improve with a 1m:40.726 to remain sixteenth. Glock had left the pit lane as Heidfeld pitted. Glock was now twentieth as Pastor pitted. Massa would get crossed up at the final corner but was able to continue. A 1m:40.363 and Di Resta was now fourteenth. Rubens would pit remaining in twelfth. Pastor was still thirteenth with Rubens time a 1M:40.020 and Pastor a 1m:40.301. Both drivers would complete thirty four laps in what was an uneventful session. With the end of the session the drivers would return to their pits. For the AT&T Williams team they again seemed to be struggling for pace and would have a lot of work to do overnight.

 
Maldonado
 
Pos  Driver	    Team		   Time       Laps
 1.  F Alonso       Ferrari                1m37.968s  35
 2.  L Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes       1m38.195s  26
 3.  S Vettel       Red Bull-Renault       1m38.265s  31
 4.  M Schumacher   Mercedes               1m38.315s  30
 5.  F Massa        Ferrari                1m38.443s  32
 6.  J Button       McLaren-Mercedes       1m38.483s  30
 7.  M Webber       Red Bull-Renault       1m38.531s  26
 8.  N Rosberg      Mercedes               1m38.981s  33
 9.  N Heidfeld     Renault                1m39.040s  35
10.  V Petrov       Renault                1m39.586s  27
11.  A Sutil        Force India-Mercedes   1m39.626s  31
12.  R Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth      1m40.020s  34
13.  P Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth      1m40.301s  34
14.  P di Resta     Force India-Mercedes   1m40.363s  7
15.  S Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m40.454s  32
16.  S Perez        Sauber-Ferrari         1m40.531s  37
17.  K Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari         1m42.083s  34
18.  H Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault          1m42.156s  39
19.  J Trulli       Lotus-Renault          1m42.239s  25
20.  T Glock        Virgin-Cosworth        1m42.273s  21
21.  J D'Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth        1m42.809s  36
22.  T Liuzzi       HRT-Cosworth           1m44.460s  29
23.  N Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth           1m46.906s  16
24.  J Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari	   No time
 

European GP : Barrichello leads Maldonado in FP2
Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)
Date: 25/06/2011 02:23

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