Friday Practise 2 - A Session of Contrasts
By Alianora La Canta
May 8 2009
The Force India crew were kept very busy between the practise sessions. Adrian Sutil's car developed a coupling failure in the fuel cell. The unenviable task of replacing it was so lengthy that it denied Adrian any chance to run in second practise. However, Giancarlo Fisichella completed 32 laps to finish a respectable 12th.
1:00pm - Adrian Sutil will not run in this session. After the first session finished, his fuel cell was found to have a broken coupling. Replacing it is a six-hour job, so the car is currently upside down.
Ian Phillips also says that Adrian did a soft-tyre run at some point. I'm not sure when that was, which perhaps suggests that the two tyre compounds are not so different at this track.
1:05pm - Giancarlo has joined the track, the 17th driver to do so.
1:08pm - Giancarlo's first lap is 12th.
1:10pm - The second lap is good for 9th, 0.985 seconds off Glock's pace.
1:11pm - Lap three would have been an improvement but for some lost time in Sector 2.
1:13pm - Giancarlo takes 8th spot.
1:15m - the camera shows Adrian's car in bits. The coupling replacement job continues apace.
1:17pm - Giancarlo has pitted.
1:21pm - Giancarlo is back on track.
1:23pm - This lap is not especially quick, but the way times have reduced the longer they're used (prior to graining) expect a quicker time soon.
1:33pm - Giancarlo's set his first green sector of the run - a 31.8 for sector 2 - while the Club Force twitter asks for questions to ask Adrian. I suppose he doesn't really have anything better to do...
1:51pm - Giancarlo is up to 7th, 1.284 seconds behind Nakajima and setting another all-green lap.
1:55pm - Giancarlo has pitted.
2:09pm - Giancarlo has returned to the circuit, as Ian Phillips comments that if Adrian ran KERS the driver/car combination would be 12kg over the minumum weight. This indicates that the ballast on the Force India is very similar to the weight of the Mercedes KERS - which I've heard is around 25kg.
2:17pm - Giancarlo has pitted.
2:27pm - Giancarlo is on track for a practise qualifying run.
2:30pm - After a steady couple of laps, Giancarlo is 12th, 1.082 seconds behind Rosberg. He is between Bourdais and Hamilton.