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With the haze
lifting slightly the AT&T Williams team would get ready for the second
Friday practice session for the 2011 Indian Grand Prix. Hamilton had
indicated that he had accepted his three place grid penalty with D'Ambrosio
been first out. He was joined by Petrov, Pastor Maldonado, Kovalainen,
Trulli, Karthikeyan, and Kobayashi. The next group to come out were Rosberg,
Buemi, Glock, Perez, Di Resta, and Senna. It was expected that the track
would be very busy with the teams looking to learn more of this new circuit.
D'Ambrosio would set a 1m:38.299 as we had Alonso and Sutil take to the
track. Petrov would go faster with a 1m:35.418 , running on the hard tyre.
Kovalainen was third and Pastor fourth, 1m:43.237. Trulli was now second but
it was all changing with Buemi now fastest, 1m:31.306, from Petrov and
Kobayashi. Di Resta was now third while Pastor moved up to second,
1m:31.698, from Petrov, Kobayashi, and Di Resta.
Sutil was now fastest with a 1m:30.641 as the track became even busier. The
only drivers yet to come out were Hamilton, Schumacher, and Alguersuari.
Schumacher would come out while Pastor was now fastest with a 1m:30.192. The
whole field was now out on the track as Buemi went fastest with a 1m:29.272.
Sutil was third from Alonso, Di Resta, Webber, Petrov, and Perez in eighth.
Vettel would go fastest by a considerable margin, 1.258 seconds, after
setting a 1m:28.014, running on the softer tyre. Massa was now in third from
Di Resta and Pastor now in sixth. Rubens was down in twenty first with a
1m:44.657. Webber would move up to third, 1m:29.639, but this would become
fourth as Hamilton moved into third with a time of 1m:29.148. As the times
improved Button would move up to second with a 1m:28.232, also on the soft
tyre. For Pastor his session would come to a quick halt as he spun his car at Turn eight and nine going into the gravel
backwards with his car becoming stuck. Despite efforts from marshals Pastor
was forced to get out of his car ending his session.
Vettel would pit while Pastor's car was craned away. Pastor would get a lift
on a scooter back to the pits. Second placed Button would also pit joined by
third placed Webber. Buemi was fourth followed by Hamilton, Massa, Sutil, Di
Resta, Pastor, and Alonso in tenth. The track would become quite empty while
the second Williams of Rubens was in twentieth. Buemi would go fastest with
a 1m:27.868 but Hamilton would quickly move ahead with a 1m:27.261. While
Pastor walked back to his garage Rubens was also back in his pit as Alonso
improved to be seventh with a 1m:28.719 running on the hard tyre. Massa was
one place ahead in sixth while at the front Hamilton would go even faster
with a 1m:26.618 to remain fastest. Petrov would move up to eighth with a
time of 1m:29.102. Perez was now ninth followed by Sutil, Di Resta, and
Pastor now in twelfth. Kobayashi was now up to eleventh, 1m:30.086. Vettel
and Webber were back out on the track with an hour and five minutes
remaining. More drivers would come out for their second runs. Vettel was now
second with a time of 1m:27.717 but Webber would move ahead with a
1m:27.557. Buemi was in fourth while Petrov would improve to be seventh,
1m:28.452.
With just over an hour remaining Rubens was still in his pit as Kobayashi
moved up to ninth, 1m:29.259. Vettel was now fastest with a 1m:26.492 while
Pastor's car had come back to his pit been pushed down the pit lane by the
Williams mechanics. Rubens was now twenty third and losing valuable time in
his pit. Perez was ninth, 1m:28.948, as we had Button back out on the track.
He was able to find time in the first two sectors but would lose time in
sector three seeing him fail to improve. Rubens was now back out having only
completed six laps. Massa was on a quicker lap moving up to third,
1m:26.923, running on the soft tyre. Button would take this spot with a
1m:26.714 as Vettel came back out. Rubens was up to twentieth with a time of
1m:33.156, 6.6 seconds off the pace. Vettel would find time with a 1m:26.320
to remain fastest. Hamilton was now second from Button, Massa, Webber,
Buemi, Petrov, Alonso, Alguersuari, and Perez in tenth. After their second
runs the track again became fairly quite as Alonso moved up to sixth,
1m:27.712.
Rubens was now up to twelfth with a time of 1m:29.693 while second placed
Hamilton set a 1m:26.618 to be 0.298 behind Vettel. Alguersuari was now
ninth, 1m:28.552, as Rubens pitted. Hamilton and Vettel would both pit as
Alonso moved up to fifth with a 1m:26.952, to be one placed behind team-mate
Massa. Senna would jump up to eleventh with a 1m:29.006. Massa continued to
find time and he would move up to second with a 1m:26.589. On his softer
tyre Senna would find more time with a 1m:28.248 to be
eighth. Team-mate Petrov was in ninth while for Williams Pastor was able to
return to the track with forty five minutes remaining. Kobayashi was now
ninth, 1m:28.400, while Pastor had dropped to sixteenth. Rubens was now
thirteenth and back out on the track. Button was back out on the track as
both Ferrari's returned to their pits. Petrov would take eighth from Senna
while D'Ambrosio would crash heavily seeing the session red flagged. He had
spun his car at the exit of Turn eleven and in his effort to get it under
control ran out of track and spun backwards into the barrier further down
the track damaging the rear wing and suspension. The Virgin car would be lifted away and the session would
restart with thirty four minutes remaining.
With the session restarted Rubens would come back out along with Vettel,
Hamilton, Button, Webber, Buemi, and both Force India cars. Both Ferrari's
were still in their pits joined by Pastor with thirty minutes left in the
session. Di Resta was now tenth, 1m:28.354, while Sutil would move up to
ninth, 1m:27.881. Rubens and Pastor were fifteenth and sixteenth. We now
only had Massa and Pastor still in their pits seeing the track now very
busy. Pastor would come out as Buemi took to the grass at Turn six. Webber
was on a quick lap going fastest in sector two. Sutil was now in seventh
while Webber would fail to improve despite setting a 1m:27.083. Di Resta
would pit joining both HRT and Virgin cars. Button and Sutil would also come
in while Hamilton set a 1m:26.454 to remain second but closing the gap to
Vettel. Vettel would drop down into the 1m:25s with a 1m:25.794 to remain
fastest by 0.660. Alonso was now up to third, 1m:26.458, with Webber fourth
from Massa, Button, Sutil, Senna, Di Resta, and Buemi in tenth. Pastor had
improved slightly to be fifteenth, 1m:29.450, while Rubens was in sixteenth
back in his pit.
Massa was now second, 1m:26.362, as team-mate Alonso would be fastest in
sector and two. He would complete his lap with a 1m:26.216 to be second.
Massa was now third from Hamilton and Webber. Pastor was on a quicker lap
setting a 1m:28.708, but remained in fifteenth. Massa continued to find
extra pace from his car moving to the top of the times with a 1m:25.706,
running on the soft tyre. Pastor had pitted with eighteen minutes remaining.
Massa would pit joining the majority of the field. His stop would be quick
as Vettel also came back out. Rubens would also pit currently in seventeenth
with fifteen minutes remaining. We also had both Red Bull and McLaren cars
back out on the track for their final runs. Ten minutes left in the session
and both Williams cars were still in their pits. It was looking very much
likes the teams were running on heavier fuel loads running on the soft tyre.
Massa was back out while shortly after Rubens would also come back out.
Alonso was still in his pit as Senna came back in. Petrov would spin at Turn
five stopping briefly but he would continue.
We now had Alonso and Senna back out with six minutes left in the session.
After his spin Petrov would pit followed by Hamilton. Pastor and Rubens were
still in fifteenth and seventeenth as Alonso pitted followed by Vettel.
Alonso would quickly return to the track as Di Resta pitted. Rubens was out
on the soft tyre and on a longer run. Di Resta was back out as the final
minute counted down. Nearing the end of his session Rubens would set a
1m:28.691 to be fifteenth. He would be one place ahead of Pastor with
Pastor's time a 1m:28.708. The session would end with Massa still fastest
from Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber, Button, Sutil, Senna, Di Resta, and
Buemi in tenth.
Both Williams cars were around three seconds off the pace as
they returned to their pits. Again it was a session that saw both Williams
drivers down the order and appearing to struggle for pace. Now it would come
down to assessing the data from today to see if Rubens and Pastor can
improve their pace come Saturday. Despite been off the pace it was
encouraging to see both Williams drivers finish the session so close
together. |
