Turkish GP : Maldonado twelfth in very wet FP1

The opening Friday practice for the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix would see the teams and drivers facing a very wet track as they got ready for their installation laps. The rain was expected to last for at least an hour as the drivers started to leave the pit lane. On their laps the drivers were been very cautious as they assessed the track conditions. For the AT&T Williams team these wet conditions were not what they would have hoped for given the upgrades that they had brought for this race.

With twenty four minutes of the session run D'Ambrosio would be the first driver to set a time with a 1m:49.518. Buemi would post a 1m:41.632 to be eight seconds faster than the Virgin. Ricciardo was up to second with 1m:43.392. Ricciardo would improve with a 1m:42.435 while Buemi set a 1m:41.306. Rosberg was up to third with a 1m:42.166. Alonso was now fifth but he would move to the top of the times with a 1m:40.897. Drivers were saying that their wet weather tyres were losing performance quickly as Di Resta moved up to sixth, 1m:45.709. Rosberg would go fastest with a 1m:40.072 running on the full wet tyre.

Full wet tyres were the only real choice given the conditions as Kobayashi went sixth with a 1m:42.470. Rosberg would pit after that short run of laps on the wets. He was fastest ahead of Alonso, Buemi and Hulkenberg. Schumacher would set a 1m:40.954 to go third. Petrov was fifth and Heidfeld sixth as Webber took to the track. His first lap was a 1m:43.365 to move into tenth, running on the intermediate tyres. Neither of the AT&T Williams drivers had returned to the track after their installation laps. Alonso would move to the top of the times with a 1m:38.670, running on the intermediates. Massa was out on full wets as Alonso pitted.

With just over thirty minutes remaining Alonso was fastest from Rosberg, Heidfeld, Petrov, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Buemi, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, and Massa now in tenth. Schumacher would have a big spin at Turn eleven. Vettel would also complain of aquaplaning at the same turn. Massa was now in seventh with a 1m:40.697. Massa would pit while for Vettel the session would come to an abrupt end as he spin his car crashing into the barriers. Coming out of Turn eight he went over the kerb after running quite wide and his car would spin across the track and into the barrier on the other side of the track.

The session would be red flagged with twenty five minutes remaining. Vettel's car would be removed as he got a lift back to the pits. Neither Rubens Barrichello or Pastor Maldonado had set a time as Vettel's car would be returned to the pits. Pastor would get into his car getting ready to go out. Rubens was waiting in his car. The session would restart with several drivers returning to the track. Schumacher was now in third with a 1m:40.330. The Williams team would not run the new front wing given the wet conditions. Rosberg was back out as both Rubens and Pastor took to the track. Rubens first time would see him set a 1m:47.135 to be seventeenth fastest with just over five minutes remaining. Pastor was out on the full wet and would have gentle spin at Turn eleven and was able to continue. Di Resta would also spin as Pastor set a 1m:59.071.

Rubens was up to thirteenth, 1m:43.913, but he would return to the pits with just a few minutes remaining. Neither of the McLaren's had set a time but Button would come out of the pit lane as the session drew to a close. Schumacher had spun again at Turn eleven but like Pastor he would continue on. Hamilton had stopped at the end of the pit lane and was pushed back by the marshals. Hamilton would get out of his car as his mechanics rushed down the pit lane to retrieve the McLaren. Pastor had set a 1m:42.597 to move into twelfth, while Rubens was now fourteenth. Hamilton's problem was clutch related as Pastor would spin again at Turn eleven this time hitting the left rear of his car against the barrier on the other side of the track. Pastor was not able to continue and would get out of his car.

The session would end with Pastor and Rubens in twelfth and fourteenth. IT really was a session that was very difficult to draw any conclusions as to the FW33 performance. It was just a shame that Pastor had that final spin. It was expected that the second Friday practice session would see the conditions improve but it would still be unlikely to be completely dry.

Pos Driver          Team		   Time       Laps
1.  F Alonso        Ferrari                1m38.670s  13 
2.  N Rosberg       Mercedes               1m40.072s  14 
3.  M Schumacher    Mercedes               1m40.132s  18 
4.  N Heidfeld      Renault                1m40.338s  9 
5.  V Petrov        Renault                1m40.401s  10 
6.  K Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari         1m40.421s  16 
7.  F Massa         Ferrari                1m40.697s  14 
8.  D Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m41.094s  18 
9.  S Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m41.178s  22
10. N Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes   1m41.347s  16
11. M Webber        Red Bull-Renault       1m42.564s  5
12. P Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth      1m42.597s  7
13. P di Resta      Force India-Mercedes   1m43.525s  11
14. R Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth      1m43.913s  5
15. K Chandhok      Lotus-Renault          1m43.986s  6
16. T Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth           1m44.787s  20
17. S Vettel        Red Bull-Renault       1m44.954s  4
18. T Glock         Virgin-Cosworth        1m45.183s  15
19. J D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth        1m45.237s  11
20. N Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth           1m48.461s  8
21. J Trulli        Lotus-Renault          1m51.676s  6
22. S Perez         Sauber-Ferrari         1m55.791s  13
23. J Button        McLaren-Mercedes       2m00.666s  4
24. L Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      no time    1