0
Ferrari took the top two places in a rain-affected first practice session for the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España 2013 at Barcelona on Friday.
It began raining quite heavily before practice got underway, and the track gradually dried until a flurry of improvements in the final 15 minutes set the pattern.
In the end, Fernando Alonso gave the spectators what they wanted with a fastest time of 1m 25.252s, 0.203s ahead of Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa on 1m 25.455s. Jean-Eric Vergne was third for Toro Rosso on 1m 25.667s to complete the runners below 1m 26s.
Most of the teams have brought substantial upgrade packages to the race, but the first session proved largely inconclusive because of the weather, and a different pattern is likely to emerge if the rain stays away this afternoon.
Romain Grosjean was fourth quickest for Lotus on 1m 26.042s, chased by Adrian Sutil for Force India on 1m 26.212s, Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes on 1m 26.374s, one-time pacesetter Valtteri Bottas on 1m 26.456s, Kimi Raikkonen for Lotus on 1m 26.614s, Nico Rosberg for Mercedes on 1m 26.621s, Paul di Resta for Force India on 1m 26.755s and Daniel Ricciardo for Toro Rosso on 1m 26.940s.
Behind them, Nico Hulkenberg took 12th for Sauber on 1m 27.061s from McLaren's Sergio Perez on 1m 27.135s, Hulkenberg's team mate Esteban Gutierrez on 1m 27.250s and Williams' 2012 winner Pastor Maldonado on 1m 27.576s.
A very late improvement put Heikki Kovalainen into 16th in the heavily revamped Caterham CT03 ahead of team mate Giedo van der Garde, with 1m 28.373s to 1m 28.600s, with Jules Bianchi in the rival Marussia MR02 right behind them on 1m 28.887s.
The Red Bull drivers clearly weren't chasing times, with Sebastian Vettel languishing 19th on 1m 29.457s and Mark Webber 20th on 1m 29.473s. Rodolfo Gonzalez had another run for Marussia and took 21st on 1m 30.314s, with Jenson Button sitting out most of the session as McLaren await the arrival of more new parts for the MP4-28 and thus not setting a time. (Formula1.com)
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
78 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (0)
Login to reply