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After scoring
further points at the Japanese Grand Prix the Williams F1 team would start
their preparations for the 2012 Korean Grand Prix. Once again Valtteri
Bottas would replace Bruno Senna for the opening Friday practice. Valtteri
would be trialling their new Coanda exhaust system during the session.
Drivers would start to leave the pit lane with Vergne first out. Both
Valtteri and Pastor Maldonado would leave the Williams pit for their
installation laps. Just as quickly they would pit but both Williams cars
would complete two laps. Pirelli had brought their soft and super soft tyres
for this event. Everyone would complete installation laps with Rosberg and
Schumacher remaining out on the track. Schumacher would pit briefly while
Vettel would run wide exiting the pits.
Vergne was back out as Rosberg pitted while Vergne would not set a timed lap
and would pit leaving the track empty. Valtteri would come back out stopping
at the end of the pit lane and carrying out a practice start. Raikkonen was
next out followed by Button. Valtteri would set a 1m:45.225 as Hamilton also
left the pits. Raikkonen would pit while Valtteri would set an improved
1m:43.745. But Button would go faster with a 1m:41.395. Hamilton was third
with a time of 1m:46.655. Valtteri was out collecting aero data for the
team. Pastor and Grosjean would also come out as both Valtteri and Hamilton
improved their times. Valtteri would set a 1m:43.530 as Pic also came out.
Pastor would set a 1m:44.469 while Hamilton had set a 1m:44.003. Valtteri
continued to find tenths setting a 1m:43.482.
Button had pitted while Grosjean would set a 1m:43.737 to be third. Both
Valtteri and Hamilton would pit after their first runs. Grosjean was now
second with a 1m:42.365. Pastor was on an improved lap and would set a
1m:42.120 to be second. Both Ferrari's were now out on the track joined by
both the HRT cars of De la Rosa and Clos. Perez was next out followed by Van
Der Gar for Caterham. Perez was now fourth, 1m:43.283, but this would become
fifth as Massa went second fastest with a time of 1m:41.729. Pastor would
also improve with a 1m:41.459 to again be second. Alonso's first lap would see him go straight to the top of the times with a
1m:40.895. Massa would join Alonso at the top going second with a 1m:41.369
seeing Button now third. Pastor would pit after his first run.
With fifty minutes remaining Alonso was fastest from Massa, Button, Pastor,
Grosjean, Perez, Valtteri, Vergne, Hamilton, and Pic tenth. Pastor would
come back out as Alonso would set a 1m:39.857 to now be 1.5 seconds faster
than Massa. The track was now very busy with both Mercedes cars out on the
track. We had yet to see either of the Red Bull cars out on the track.
Bianchi driving for Force India would go seventh, 1m:43.088. Schumacher was
now seventh, 1m:42.332, as Valtteri returned to the track. Pastor would find
more time setting a 1m:41.048 to be second. Schumacher was now up to third,
1m:41.064, and Di Resta fourth. Rosberg was now sixth having moved up from
sixteenth. Perez was eighth and Kobayashi ninth. Webber was now on the track
while both Ferrari's had pitted. Ricciardo had moved into eleventh,
1m:42.586.
Pastor would pit again with Valtteri down in fourteenth but on a quicker
lap. He would set a 1m:42.622 to be twelfth. Rosberg was now second with a
time of 1m:40.546. Webber's first time was a 1m:41.743 to be tenth. Vettel
would join Webber out on the track as both McLaren's also came out. Valtteri
would set a 1m:42.092 to be thirteenth. Button would move into second with a 1m:40.480. Raikkonen and
Glock had yet to set times as Alonso returned to the track. Webber would
show Red Bull's pace with a 1m:40.413 to be second. Vettel's early time
would see him fifteenth, 1m:42.394. Valtteri had pitted as Vettel set a
1m:40.893 to be fifth. Alonso was again on the pace going fastest in sector
two. he would finish his lap improving with a 1m:39.450, as Webber pitted.
Pastor was back out joined by several others. Raikkonen would set a
1m:41.987 to be thirteenth. Hamilton was now second with a
1m:39.475 as Pastor had dropped to eleventh and Valtteri seventeenth.
The track was fairly quite with twenty minutes of the session remaining.
Pastor was having ride height adjustments while the team had been hard at
work on Valtteri's car making aero changes seeing them removing his floor
and rear bodywork. Alonso and Schumacher were back out joined by Hamilton
and Webber with fifteen minutes remaining. Button and Vettel would also take
to the track. Schumacher was now sixth with a 1m:40.221 followed by Rosberg.
With ten minutes remaining the track was now very busy as Valtteri returned
to the track. The order was Alonso from Hamilton, Webber, Massa, Vettel, Schumacher, Rosberg, Grosjean, Di Resta,
and Button in tenth. Alonso would have a big lockup and would complain about
a vibration. He would pit briefly with most of the drivers on longer runs
late in the session. As the final five minutes started both Red Bull cars
would pit briefly. Both Sauber's were back in their pits joined by Rosberg
and Bianchi.
Everyone would return for their final runs as Hamilton went fastest with a
1m:39.280. Webber would set a 1m:39.575 but remained third. The session
would come to an end with few changes in the order. Hamilton would improve
with a 1m:39.148 to remain fastest from Alonso, Webber, Massa, Vettel,
Schumacher, Rosberg, Grosjean, Di Resta, and Button tenth. Pastor was
twelfth and Valtteri eighteenth. For Pastor it was an uneventful session but
Valtteri had lost a significant amount of time having the changes made to
his car. Given the track conditions it was hard to draw any conclusions as
to both Williams drivers performances but the team would now be looking at
their data prior to the second session. |
