Australian GP - Delayed verdict. The 2011 season gets underway in Melbourne

On the opening day of the Formula 1 World Championship, Ferrari chose to show solidarity with the Japanese people, who have been so seriously affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit a fortnight ago. Therefore the two 150° Italia cars carried a phrase in Japanese and the country’s national flag. During today’s three hours of free practice, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers completed a total of 102 laps, split between 48 for Fernando Alonso and 54 for Felipe Massa.

Fernando Alonso: “Nothing new yet and what else would you expect? These two free practice sessions have not actually revealed the real relative strengths of the teams: this morning Red Bull went well and in the afternoon it was McLaren’s turn, with us and Mercedes always in the mix, while Williams and Renault also seem competitive. There are so many teams who could be in with a chance of going for the win and therefore it’s obvious that it will be necessary to have a good Saturday, without any mistakes if you want to start from the front row. Today, we concentrated mainly on analysing the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres, which seems a bit different here to what we saw in testing, partly because the track surface has very different characteristics. As far as strategy is concerned, we will need to be very flexible during the race, because at the moment, we know too little about the tyres to be able to say with certainty on which lap it will be best to stop. From what we have seen today, maybe we can do ten laps on one set of tyres, or maybe thirty! I am happy with the way the car is going: at the start there was a bit of understeer and we still are a way off from having perfect grip at the front, but it went better than I was expecting. We wanted to show that Japan was in the thoughts of all of us at Ferrari, which is why we ran with a sticker dedicated to the people of a country that has brought a lot to Formula 1 and where our sport has a great following.”

Felipe Massa: “We tested a lot of things in these two free practice sessions, splitting the work with my team-mate so as to explore different ways to go in terms of preparing for the rest of the weekend. I expected to set a quicker time, especially as the softs were not at their best until the fourth lap. On the hards, on the longest runs, it did not achieve much, as there were also a few drops of rain to complicate the situation. From what we have seen, the soft tyre shows less degradation than we might have expected, but we have to work out if that will still be the case in the race. This track is definitely less hard on tyres than Barcelona for example, where we did so much testing. This year it will be vital to study their behaviour carefully, circuit by circuit. The difference in outright performance between the two types of tyre is very marked. McLaren and Red Bull seem very strong, but there are other cars that can also be on the pace.”

Source: Ferrari.com

Prac Three: A lot of rain, very few laps

With the rain pouring down on Saturday morning and teams predicting qualifying will be cancelled, Practice Three saw a total of two drivers set lap times.

Although everyone ventured out for at least one lap, very few opted for a second as aquaplaning was the order of the morning with the rain continuing throughout the hour-long session.

Only two drivers, Jaime Alguersuari and Timo Glock, actually set lap times as practice was dominated by talk of whether or not qualifying will take place later today.

Report: With the forecast rain have arrived early on Saturday, soaking the Suzuka circuit, rivers in the pit lane did not bode well for the drivers at the start of Practice Three. But that did not stop them from venturing out with Jaime Alguersuari leading out the installation laps. But with the Spaniard almost aquaplaning off the track and Lucas di Grassi telling his team that the track was "undriveable", it could be a while before anyone attempts a lap time.

With the rain growing steadily heavier, Alguersuari was the first to try his hand at a lap time, however, he soon brought his Toro Rosso back into the pits, reporting major aquaplaning. Lewis Hamilton, who is still waiting for new parts for his MP4-25 following his crash in Friday's first practice, tried his luck before pitting while Alguersuari again hit the track - and promptly went off at the chicane. But back on track, the Spaniard finally crossed the line with a 1:58.016 - the one and only time set in the opening half of practice. He improved to a 1:55.902 while Timo Glock went second quickest.

And even though the rain was getting still heavier, there was movement in the pit lane as others suited up, ready to head out. The drivers have to get at least some running under their belts this morning as more of the same is expected in qualifying later today - should it take place, which is still up in the air.

Sebastien Buemi took his chances with 15 minutes left on the clock, put his Toro Rosso into a massive spin as he aquaplaned and opted to pit. This prompted Force India's Andy Stevenson to tell the BBC: "It is certainly F not safe to run. The drivers are more than capable but the tyres can't move so much water. We are not planning to send the drivers out in this."

With five minutes remaining, Hamilton attempted another go but returned to the pits as quickly - or in this case as slowly - as possible. Alguersuari went out again and was joined by Michael Schumacher but they soon pitted. And that was it for Practice Three.

Times
01 J Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:55.902 9 laps
02 T Glock Virgin Racing 2:07.497 6 laps

Source: Planet F1

Red Bull rule day one – but fear McLaren fightback

First and second on the end-of-day timesheets might be becoming something of a familiar feature for Red Bull Racing duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in F1 2010 - but the pair insist they remain wary indeed of McLaren's pace in Barcelona

They might have ended the opening day of practice for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix in a familiar position – ensconced one-two at the top of the timesheets – but Red Bull Racing duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber remain wary indeed about the potential of McLaren-Mercedes around the Circuit de Catalunya.

McLaren has struggled in Barcelona in recent years as its designs have tended to excel more around high-downforce tracks and struggle more in high-speed corners, of which the Spanish circuit has no shortage – but prior to the 2010 edition, the team had hinted that the tables might just be set to turn [see separate story – click here].

The Woking-based outfit duly led the way in FP1 as Lewis Hamilton and current world championship leader Jenson Button paced the field, with Webber and Vettel respectively just fourth and fifth. In the afternoon session, however, the Milton Keynes-based squad hit back – setting the scene for a mouth-watering battle royale between the two teams in qualifying on Saturday.

“We've got a few changes on our car, but I don't think anything as significant as perhaps some of the other teams have,” mused Vettel, F1's youngest-ever grand prix-winner. “There's a little bit everywhere on ours, and I think we've proved today that our changes work.

“I think the lap times are irrelevant from a Friday, though. It's good to be fast, but I think the McLarens are quick here – I don't think they were pushing hard this afternoon and I think it will be much closer tomorrow.”

“That was a good day for us,” corroborated New South Wales native Webber. “We had a smooth run and a nice FP1 and FP2, with no interruption from the weather or things like that. The guys worked faultlessly in the garage, the driver did a little bit as well and it was a good day.

“Don't read too much into the times; McLaren probably weren't showing everything today. It was a very late night for the team last night, but a positive day today and hopefully we're well-prepared for tomorrow.”

Source: Crash

Chandhok 'amazed' as Klien faster than Senna

Karun Chandhok will have to admit to being "amazed" after sitting out the morning practice session in Barcelona.

To both his and teammate Bruno Senna's chagrin in Spain, the Indian rookie's HRT car was occupied instead by new test and reserve driver Christian Klien.

Austrian Klien's 26 laps were the first at a grand prix weekend since he practiced in a Honda in 2007, but he has been brought in by team boss Colin Kolles for his experience of 48 grands prix and three subsequent years of testing.

Before the morning session, Chandhok was quoted as saying by the BBC: "I'll be amazed if he goes half a second quicker than Bruno; I highly doubt it."

However, Klien was in fact exactly half a second quicker than Brazilian rookie Senna, cutting the deficit to F1's other new teams to just five tenths.

Chandhok said: "Christian has got good experience of some good teams so he could bring something.

"The team is a little bit behind the game, so any information we can get from other people is useful. It's frustrating for me, I want to drive the car as much as possible."

Source: F1 Complete

Klien granted Superlicence 10 minutes before practice

Incredibly, Christian Klien very narrowly missed out on driving in Spain's first free practice session on Friday as the Austrian's FIA Superlicence - required by all drivers to take part in Formula 1 sessions - was finalised as little as ten minutes before the morning session began.

With Sakon Yamamoto confirmed as an official test and reserve driver for the Murcia-based Hispania team last month, former Jaguar and Red Bull racer Klien's confirmation arrived earlier this week.

However, although Team Principal Colin Kolles felt that placing a more experienced driver in Karun Chandhok's cockpit would help the rate development for the debutant team, Klien's Barcelona outing very nearly didn't happen at all.

"It was a bit exciting today as I got my Superlicense only ten minutes before the start of the first practice session!" 27-year-old Christian explained. "Fortunately, everything had been prepared perfectly and then I was allowed to jump into the car.

"I had 90 great minutes in the car. It was my first time in a Formula 1 car since January last year and felt perfect right away; I was able to feel the limits of the car and posted constant times, which will help the engineers - I was able to give them important feedback to improve, in terms of setup, and my work with top teams will help them."

Kolles was also relieved following the dramatic events of the morning. "We want to thank (governing body) the FIA and (commercial rights holder) Mr. Ecclestone for their support to make it possible," he began. "In that short period of time, Christian got his Superlicense and consequently was allowed to drive this morning."

Source: GP Update

Bahrain in pictures...

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