Monaco GP: Alonso edges Hamilton

Fernando Alonso set the pace in Thursday's second practice session in Monaco as Ferrari and McLaren came to the fore

Alonso, who is bidding to win the Monaco GP with his third different team this weekend, crossed the line with a 1:15.123 to edge McLaren's Lewis Hamilton by 0.105s.

Third place went to Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg, who finished ahead of Jenson Button, while Sebastian Vettel could only manage the fifth best time. The reigning World Champion was half a second behind the leading Ferrari.

Felipe Massa took sixth place ahead of Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber.

Report: The sun was out and the track temperature was a hot 45'C as Timo Glock hit the track to start Thursday's second practice in Monte Carlo. Pastor Maldonado narrowly escaped damaging his car as he locked up, run wide and had to take to the escape road.

The drivers were quick to get down to work with Vitaly Petrov leading the way ahead of Jaime Alguersuari while Mark Webber, who missed FP1 with a gearbox problem, took third place ahead of Sebastien Buemi. Felipe Massa was the next to lead the way with a 1:17.483. Yellow flags came out as Alguersuari made a mistake, hitting the barriers at Turn 1.

A near collision between the two Ferrari drivers as Fernando Alonso, on course for the P1 slot, came up behind his team-mate, who was slowing down to make room for himself. Alonso came within a millimetres of hitting the back of Massa's car. The Spaniard will not be happy.

Nico Rosberg took over at the top with Jenson Button improving to second place and Lewis Hamilton to fifth behind Massa and Petrov. Without his team-mate in front of him to bulk him, Alonso was able to take the P1 slot with a 1:16.408. Hamilton climbed to fourth place as Sebastian Vettel just, and only just, missed hitting the barriers with the rear left of his RB7.

Heikki Kovalainen had to take to the escape road after missing his braking point. Massa, pushing too hard, almost lost it around the Casino hairpin. Problems for Paul di Resta as the Scot is pushed down the escape road by the marshals after coming to a halt at the chicane.

At the halfway point of the session it was Alonso ahead of Rosberg, Button, Hamilton, Massa, Petrov, Rubens Barrichello and Buemi.

Massa is doing everything he can to put his car in the wall and mounts the kerb, almost hits the armco barrier and a few metres later, almost hits the barrier again. But hey he's up to third, 0.718s slower than his team-mate. Massa was dropped one place at Vettel took the P1 slot with a 1:15.667, almost a second quicker than his P1time from this morning. Massa moved up to second place, 0.114s off Vettel's time.

Alonso returned to the front, half a second up on Vettel's best. Rosberg improved to second place with Vettel taking third before he was dropped by Button. Hamilton climbed to second place, missing out on the P1 time by a tenth. Minor problems for Glock, Hamilton and Schumacher, all of whom ran off the track but without any damage. Massa stalled as he attempted to leave the pits and Petrov lost his front wing as he exited the tunnel.

Thursday's second practice ended with Alonso in the P1 slot, ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg.

Times
01. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m15.123s 42 laps
02. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.228s + 0.105 33 laps
03. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m15.321s + 0.198 44 laps
04. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.448s + 0.325 38 laps
05. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m15.667s + 0.544 46 laps
06. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m15.781s + 0.658 45 laps
07. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m16.356s + 1.233 33 laps
08. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m16.642s + 1.519 42 laps
09. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m17.101s + 1.978 46 laps
10. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m17.126s + 2.003 38 laps
11. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m17.337s + 2.214 35 laps
12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m17.541s + 2.418 47 laps
13. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m17.570s + 2.447 39 laps
14. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.581s + 2.458 32 laps
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m17.633s + 2.510 49 laps
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m17.706s + 2.583 37 laps
17. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m17.789s + 2.666 43 laps
18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m18.266s + 3.143 50 laps
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m18.490s + 3.367 39 laps
20. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m19.053s + 3.930 15 laps
21. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m19.185s + 4.062 40 laps
22. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m19.338s + 4.215 35 laps
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m22.066s + 6.943 33 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Räikkönen had a slippery debut practice

Kimi Räikkönen's first official practice in Nascar's Truck-serie was careful while he got used to it.

– It was a bit slippery, Räikkönen replied to the question about how the practice felt like.

Out of 35 competitors Räikkönen left only six behind him. His fastest lap was 31,265 seconds or in the American way 172,717 miles per hour. The leader Ron Hornaday junior's lap was 30,122 and his average speed was 179,330 miles per hour.

Kimi's former team mate Juan Pablo Montoya came immediately after the practice to chat with Räikkönen.

– I only said to Kimi that it's cool to see him here but that the place is completely wrong to start with these cars. Charlotte is one of the most difficult tracks, Montoya said.

How did the track feel like after driving the test on a small oval?

– I drove the test on an oval that was almost as long as this one. There was no other difference than this track being more slippery due to the morning rain, Räikkönen thought.

Although Räikkönen didn't admit it, it was natural that he had to start more carefully than others just to make sure he doesn't crash or destroy other drivers laps when driving for the first time with several truck-cars at the same time on a difficult oval.

– I'm sure the rally experience will help Kimi slightly, but it helps in other places, not here. Yet Kimi is in a very good team and I'm sure he will go fast once he finds the right rhythm, Montoya chatted.

Would it be nice to see Räikkönen in Sprint Cup?

– Absolutely. If Kimi stays here then it's going to be fun, the Columbian star assured.

Are nice memories coming back?

– Those memories live forever, Montoya smiled.

Räikkönen and Montoya did hit together as team mates so that sparks were flying.

Turun Sanomat, Charlotte

HEIKKI KULTA

Practice times

1. Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 30,112

2. Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 30,134

3. Kyle Busch Toyota 30,200

4. Todd Bodine Toyota 30,261

5. Timothy Peters Toyota 30,266

6. James Buescher Chevrolet 30,303

7. Austin Dillon Chevrolet 30,318

8. Brad Sweet Chevrolet 30,353

9. Max Papis Toyota 30,425

10. Matt Crafton Chevrolet 30,469

..15. Nelson Piquet jr Chevrolet 30,672

..30. Kimi Räikkönen Toyota 31,265

Courtesy: Nicole

Rosberg 'optimistic' after 'decent' start

Nico Rosberg demonstrated that Mercedes GP's Chinese pace was not a one-off as he fought for the P1 slot in Friday's Turkish practice

Having qualified fourth last time out in China, Rosberg even led the grand prix for several laps before a fuel consumption issue dropped him down to fifth place.

And although Mercedes GP were encouraged by their pace in Shanghai, there were still a few questions about whether it was genuine.

The team insisted it was and Rosberg proved just that on Friday in Turkey when he finished with the second fastest time of the day, just 0.065s behind McLaren's Jenson Button.

"We have made a decent start to the weekend and I am optimistic for tomorrow. We had a productive afternoon and tried a lot of things with the car," said Rosberg.

"I didn't have too many problems with the tyres on the long run and I was quite surprised by the grip levels, which were higher than I expected. The wet tyres had a lot of grip this morning too.

"I'm happy with what we learned and expecting a very interesting time tomorrow and on Sunday."

Meanwhile, Schumacher finished the day in fourth place, 0.607s off the pace after putting in no fewer than three spins at Turn 11.

"We had quite a positive Friday, and it was especially good that we were able to test both wet and dry tyres. I hadn't really driven the wets so I'm pleased that I finally had some opportunity to use them.

"Also, my sessions were quite eventful with three spins in Turn 11.

"All in all, our car confirmed the performance improvement from China, so we can look forward to the rest of the weekend. We still have some questions relating to the set-up but I am confident we will sort them out tomorrow."

Team boss Ross Brawn has happy with the day's proceedings, saying: "We had a reasonably good day and it was nice to get a lot of work done.

"We had a good opportunity this morning to see what the car was like in the wet conditions. It was also the first time that Michael had really driven the car in the wet, so that's useful as the conditions this weekend could still be mixed.

"Then we had a nice dry session this afternoon and completed a lot of work on low and high fuel. The balance of the car isn't there yet and there is a lot of work ahead, but the team and drivers have worked very well today."

Source: Planet-F1

Alonso laments lack of Friday running

Fernando Alonso and Ferrari have lamented their lack of track time during practice at Shanghai on Friday

While his team-mate Felipe Massa completed a total of 63 laps, Alonso managed only 15 laps in Practice One and a further 17 laps in the second 90-minute session as he found himself in the pits more often than not with hydraulic problems.

"I lost valuable time because of a hydraulic problem, in both sessions, but most of all in the second one," he said. "Unfortunately, I did not manage to do any long run testing to get an idea of the tyre degradation, but fortunately, Felipe managed to do that on both types, so at least we have a good basis to start from."

After disappointing performances in the first two races in Australia and Malaysia, Ferrari decided to add new aerodynamic components to Alonso's car but the lack of mileage means they still don't have a clear idea about how well the upgrades work.

"As for the new aerodynamic components, it is too early to say if they really produce an advantage," Alonso said.

"The engineers will now have to study the data carefully, before drawing any definite conclusions as to whether or not we are moving in the right direction in terms of development. From the little I could see, there are no problems - or at least they are very slight - in terms of warm up on the hard tyres, which could be an improvement for managing the tyres in qualifying.

Assistant technical director Pat Fry, who along with team boss Stefano Domenicali and technical director Aldo Costa headed back to Maranello after the Malaysian GP, says a defective component was behind Alonso's hydraulic woes.

"I think we had more problems today in three hours than we had in the whole fifteen days of winter testing," he said.

"A shame, because we needed to cover some distance, especially with Fernando, who was experimenting with the latest aerodynamic solutions that they have come up with in Maranello. We will try and make a virtue of necessity and carry out the job of analysing the data with the data we managed to gather.

"The hydraulic problems on car number 5 stem from the same fault, a defective component and we will take action to fix it for the rest of the weekend."

Source: Planet-F1

Videos: Lewis Hamilton feeling 'fit and focused' and McLaren duo upbeat after fast Australian GP practice

McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are pleased with the progress their team have made ahead of the 2011 season, after the pair set the fastest times in practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne



Source: FiftyBuckss

The Vettel diaries: 'Practice pretty good'

Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel gives his view from Suzuka on the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix where he premiered his brand new helmet...

Hi,

It's always hard to tell whether you’ve met your expectations or not after the first practice session. Just let me say that the first day was pretty good for us. The conditions were constant and our car was perfect. All in all we can be satisfied with this day, also because some of the other drivers had a few difficulties.

We really need to focus on the straights, also because we aren't the fastest on this part of the track. But luckily, Suzuka has lot of turns, where we're able to get the time back that we might have lost on the straight.

McLaren had a tough day, but we still need to keep an eye on them. The most important thing today is that we're satisfied with ourselves – we can only focus on our team and not on what the others are doing.

The weather is of course very important. We are pretty sure that there will be rain tomorrow, but that doesn't make me worry. We're as good in rain as when it's dry and will give our best, as always.

The first practice session also gave me the chance to wear my new helmet, which has been specially designed to include the Japanese flag. It will feel strange not racing in silver and blue but the new design is really cool and even has ‘Red Bull – gives you wings’ written in Japanese!

Talk to you tomorrow.

Sebastian

Source: Red Bull

Lewis Hamilton Q&A: We are thrilled with our pace

The rain during Friday’s Practice Two seemed to make all the difference for the fortunes of McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton topping the timesheets ahead of team mate Jenson Button in second. Although the British team are still unsure about where they stand when compared to their rivals, it’s certainly boosted Hamilton’s confidence…

Q: Lewis, you kicked off the season with a podium finish in Bahrain. Do you think that the team is at that level?

LH: To be honest, I don’t think so, as we have been a bit surprised. We have found ourselves a little bit higher than we thought we would be. We are working hard to climb the ladder, but in terms of true pace we are a little further behind.

Q: Was there enough time between Bahrain and Melbourne to make any changes?

LH: Not really, as we did not have enough time. There is definitely some improvement, and we hope that this circuit suits our car a little bit better, so we can achieve a better result.

Q: What is your impression of the car right now? You and Jenson dictated the pace in Practice Two…

LH: I think this is a season where we have to highlight where we are losing bits of time. In the race, when the car is heavier it feels much more balanced - at least mine is. I think it is also a question of how you use your tyres. Overall I would say that our race pace is pretty good. Clearly the most important part is to get the qualifying right tomorrow - to understand how to get the most out of the car in that single lap - as the qualifying position has even more of an impact than it did in the past.

Q: It’s one thing to say we are going to concentrate on qualifying and another to do it. Do you think it is possible this weekend?

LH: Yes, that is what we are proactively doing. In the simulator, we are trying to work on the car, on the set-up, and have been trying to understand exactly how the car differs with heavy and light fuel loads. Every Friday you learn more and more - and this Friday we’ve been clearly ahead of where we were in Bahrain.

Q: Melbourne is distinctively different from Bahrain…

LH: Well, this track has always been something special. I like it here. I liked when we started at two, when it was in the daylight and it was nice and hot. But probably starting later is a bit better for the fans, as it is a lot cooler, and it’s probably also a little easier for us, and as long as you have the right visor it should be okay.

Q: Practice One seemed okay in terms of conditions but what about the rainy Practice Two?

LH: We’ve still been able to learn a lot in the wet, even though dry conditions are always easier. We’ve been able to make some changes to the car even though the track was not up to full speed, but nevertheless we felt quite comfortable with the balance of the car in the wet. But more importantly we have made some real improvements for qualifying tomorrow. The feeling over a single low-fuel lap looks much better for us, so when we go out there tomorrow we at least should be able to attack those guys at the front.

Q: What kind of mindset do you have ahead of Saturday?

LH: Relaxed. I’m happy that the car feels better than it has ever felt on this track before. Both Jenson and I are thrilled with our pace, even though we still don’t know what everybody else is doing.

Q: Do you think that you have a bit of an advantage over Jenson, as you know the car from last year?

LH: I can’t know the car better than anyone, as it is a completely new car compared to last year’s car. If you go to the factory, and look at last year’s car and look at this one, you see that it is completely different and it handles completely differently. In the past it has always been an oversteering car. Now we have got a really good rear end. It is completely new to him, and it is completely new to me, so I don’t think that I have an advantage over him and vice versa. At some point in the year he’s going to do a better job than me, and vice versa.

Q: Over the winter everybody was looking forward to two British champions racing alongside each other at McLaren. You seem to get along very well with each other. Is that the case?

LH: No, we are just good actors and that is what we keep telling everybody! No, that was just a joke. We really get along very well, as we knew each other before we got into Formula One. I have known his dad since he was engineering my engines back in 1995. We have a huge amount of respect for one another. Naturally we want to beat each other, and in respect to the car we are on the same professional level.

Q: Do you expect that everybody will be on the same strategy?

LH: I don’t think that we will see a big difference to what we saw in Bahrain. There will be just one stop, if we don’t see a safety-car phase. I don’t know yet how the guys in the team will handle a safety car with the new rules, but they will advise me accordingly. But honestly, fingers crossed that we don’t have one this race.

Q: Have you changed after all the ups and downs over last season?

LH: Yes, definitely. I think that is what you call maturing. Making better decisions and getting a little bit wiser than I was back then. I am proud that I can say that I am a friend of Nelson Mandela and every time I see him - he is 92 years-old - he says that he’s still learning. And in that respect, I have a lot of learning to do.

Q: What is your aim for this weekend?

LH: The aim is to win, as always. So fingers crossed that we will be in a good position for that.

Source: Formula1.com