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Saturday
practice for the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix would be run under cooler
conditions than on Friday, making the question of tyre performance and life
more of an unknown. Both AT&T Williams drivers would take to the track early
with Rubens Barrichello leading out Pastor Maldonado. It would not take long
for the majority of the field to have completed their installation laps.
After ten minutes of the session we had yet to see any times set. Still no
times with fifteen minutes completed but at least there were now a few cars
on the track. Di Resta was on a timed lap while both HRT cars had left the
pit lane. He would set a time of 1m:40.459 as Glock and Schumacher took to
the track.
Karthikeyan would set a slow 1m:45.509 as D'Ambrosio and Perez came out for
their first runs. A 1m:39.710 from Di Resta while Liuzzi would move into
second with a 1m:44.980. Rubens and Pastor would take to the track joined by
Rosberg. Schumacher was now fastest with a 1m:38.516 from Di Resta , Glock,
and Liuzzi. Both Renault's would also come out along with Button. Schumacher
would improve with a 1m:38.345 while Di Resta had set a 1m:38.718 to remain
second. Perez was now third from Rosberg and Glock. Rubens first lap would
see him in third with a 1m:39.622. Perez would jump up to second with a
1m:38.525 as the improvements in times came rapidly. Button was now fastest,
1m:37.367, with Rosberg now in second followed by Schumacher, Perez, Di
Resta, and Rubens in
seventh. Pastor was now in eighth with a 1m:40.200.
Di Resta would pit after his first run while Pastor would improve to be
sixth, 1m:38.876. But he would drop down the order was others went faster
including Rubens. With thirty four minutes remaining Button was still
fastest from Rosberg, Perez, Petrov, Schumacher, Alguersuari, and Rubens. At
the front we now had several changes with Vettel, Button, and Rosberg all
swapping the quickest time. Button was able to return to the top of the
times with a 1m:36.918 with Rosberg second from Vettel, Hamilton, Petrov,
and Perez in sixth. But Vettel would return to the top of the times with a
1m:36.053 to be 0.865 ahead of Button. Rubens was now down in ninth while
Pastor had dropped to fourteenth, 1m:38.876.
Alonso and Massa were now out on the track while we still had Webber in his
pit with thirty minutes remaining. Vettel and Button had both pitted as
Alonso moved up to ffith with a 1m:37.780. But Petrov and Massa would both
move ahead of Alonso seeing the Spaniard dropping to seventh. It was
confirmed that Rubens was again running with the new exhaust and floor. But
as they only had one set Pastor was having to run the old setup. Kobayashi
was now up to fifth with a 1m:37.554. Rubens was now down in fourteenth and
Pastor seventeenth. Pastor had pitted with Kobayashi fifth with Alonso
sixth, Petrov seventh, Massa eighth, Alguersuari ninth and Perez tenth with
less than twenty seven minutes remaining.
Both Ferrari's continued to circulate around the track. Rubens was also
continuing on with his first run of the session. Massa would improve to be
fifth, 1m:37.493. Webber was now out on the track but he would pit after
just one lap. He had been off at Turn six without any damage but had decided
to pit. Vettel and Button were both back out along with Rosberg and
Hamilton. Massa had pitted while for Williams Pastor was back out while
Rubens had pitted after a long run. Alonso would also pit while Vettel went
fastest in the final sector. The pace would start to quicken as drivers
started to complete their qualifying simulations.
Schumacher would move up to second with a 1m:36.141. Rosberg was on a quick
lap also on the soft tyres, moving to the top of the times with a 1m:35.677.
Alguersuari was up to fifth, 1m:36.953, as Rubens returned to the track.
Button would improve his time, 1m:36.307, but remained in fourth. Alonso was
now sixth followed by Hamilton and Massa. Rubens was on an improved lap as
Webber returned to the track with just over fifteen minutes remaining.
Rubens would set a 1m:37.045 to move up to sixth. The top four were all back
in the pits as Webber moved up to sixth behind Buemi, setting his time on
the harder tyres and without the use of KERS. Webber would pit seeing the
track become quite empty as drivers got ready for their final runs with
twelve minutes remaining. Rubens would find a few tenths with a 1m:37.007 to
be in eighth. Pastor had pitted, currently in eighteenth.
Only Rubens and Alonso, on the soft tyres, were on the track but Rubens
would pit with just over ten minutes left in the session. He was joined by
Massa and Button. Vettel was next out as Alonso completed his flying lap
seeing him improve to be fourth, 1m:36.246. Rosberg was next to leave the
pit lane as Massa went fastest in sector one. Alguersuari, Trulli, and Glock
were now out on the track as more drivers came out for their final runs.
Vettel would go fastest in sector one as Massa improved to be second,
1m:35.971. Button was now fastest with a 1m:35.176 while Vettel's lap would
see him quickest in sector two. He would finish with a 1m:34.968 to be 0.208
ahead of Button.
There were now only three drivers still in their pits with both Rubens and
Pastor now out on the track. Webber was eighth and still in his pit with
four minutes remaining. Pastor was on a quicker lap as Kobayashi moved up to
seventh, 1m:36.582. Pastor's lap would see him move up to fourteenth,
1m:37.436, but he would drop down to fifteenth. Rubens was now twelfth while
at the front Petrov would move into fifth, 1m:36.098. Vettel had pitted
after setting his quickest time. Button was second while team-mate Hamilton
would move up to third with a time of 1m:35.373. Rosberg was now fourth from
Massa, Petrov, Schumacher, Alonso, Di Resta, and Heidfeld in tenth. Rubens
and Pastor had dropped down the order to be in sixteenth and eighteenth.
Webber was in fourteenth and still in his pit as the session came to an end.
Perez would improve to finish in thirteenth, 1m:36.596, to be one place
behind Kobayashi. Alonso would improve his time with a 1m:35.818 to be
fifth. Rubens and Pastor would finish the session in a disappointing
seventeenth and eighteenth. Even with the updates on Rubens car it has not
produced a significant improvement given that Rubens finished just three
tenths in front of Pastor. Qualifying is going to again be a struggle. |
