Monaco GP : Barrichello leads Maldonado in FP2


Rubens Barrichello

By Andrew Hooper
May 26 2011

The second Thursday practice session for the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix would see AT&T Williams F1 drivers Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado finish in 13th and 15th respectively. After the encouraging seventh fastest from Pastor in the opening Thursday to see both drivers again well off the pace was frustrating and the team certainly has a lot of work to do to find some extra pace.

 
 Monaco GP Thursday 2nd Practice
 
Barrichello
 

The second Thursday practice would see both AT&T Williams drivers take to the track early with Pastor Maldonado going fastest with a 1m:20.544, with Petrov second. Webber would return to the track after the electrical problem which affected his gearbox was fixed. Webber was third with a 1m:22.039. Alguersuari would move to top the times with 1m:20.168 and Webber moving up to second, with Buemi third. Pastor would lock up heavily on entry to Ste Devote but was able to keep the engine running and was pushed out of the escape area and was able to return to the track.

Petrov was now fastest with a 1m:18.135 but Massa would move ahead with a 1m:17.483. Webber was now third but Button would move ahead with a 1m:18.636. Rosberg was now in fifth with a 1m:19.547, behind Webber. But Buemi moved up to fourth . This would become fifth as Heidfeld went fourth fastest, 1m:19.129. Rosberg would move from sixth to now be fastest with a 1m:16.917. Pastor had dropped to twelfth while Rubens had yet to set a time. Button was up to second with a time of 1m:17.091 as Rosberg pitted. Hamilton was up to fifth while Pastor moved from twelfth to seventh, 1m:18.988. But Sutil would move into sixth while at the front Alonso would go fastest with a 1m:16.408. Button was third with a 1m:16.922. Massa was now fourth from Petrov, Sutil, Webber, Hamilton, Perez, Buemi, and Pastor now in eleventh, 1m:18.988.

Rubens first time was a 1m:25.262 to be slowest but his next lap would see him move up to tenth, 1m:18.833. The track was fairly quite with drivers returning to the pits after their firt runs. Vettel was up to thirteenth, 1m:19.046, with just four cars on the track with under twenty minutes of the session completed. Hamilton would improve to be third, 1m:17.036 and would pit. Rubens was now ninth with a 1m:18.530. Pastor would leave the pits, currently in twelfth, followed by Rosberg. Pastor was out on the super soft tyres for
his first run on these tyres. Rubens would pit as Pastor started his flying lap. Pastor's first sector time was slower than the quickest on the soft tyre. Pastor would complete his lap improving to move up to seventh with a 1m:17.633.

Alonso was back out running on the harder tyre joined by Massa. Rosberg was still in second as more drivers returned to the track. With the repairs on his car completed Schumacher was now out on the track currently in nineteenth. Rubens was back out while Pastor had pitted after his super soft run. Buemi would improve to be eighth, 1m:17.581. Webber was told that his KERS was again not working as the first half hour of the session was completed. Alonso was still fastest from Rosberg, Button, Hamilton, Massa, Petrov, Buemi, Pastor, Heidfeld, and Webber in tenth. Rubens was in twelfth, 1m:18.530, as Vettel pitted after a long run of eighteen laps. Di Resta had come to a halt at the chicane and had to be pushed down the escape road. Rosberg was also on a longer run as we would see Rubens move up to seventh with a lap of 1m:17.570, like Pastor running on the super soft tyre. Pastor had dropped down to ninth and was back out on the track.

Alonso would pit along with Rubens. Kobayashi would be the next to try the super soft tyre and was now tenth, 1m:17.706. More drivers were on longer runs with fifty minutes remaining. Schumacher was back out and on an improved lap but would remain in nineteenth. Hamilton would pit as Pastor continued to circulate around the track on the soft tyre. Rosberg would pit as Perez moved up to seventh with a 1m:17.541, also setting his time on the super soft tyre. Rubens was again out on the track with Rubens and Pastor eighth and tenth. Massa would also come out looking to evaluate the super soft tyres. Vettel was also out on the option tyre and would go straight to the top of the times with a 1m:15.739. Massa's lap would be a 1m:16.445 to move up to third.

Massa would hit the kerb very hard nearly seeing his car hit the barrier on the opposite side of the track. Alonso was back out as both Williams car continued to put in further laps. Vettel was on even quicker lap setting a 1m:15.667. Massa was fastest in sector one by two tenths, and at the end of the lap would set a time seeing him move up to second, 1m:15.781. On his next lap Alonso would go fastest in sector one and two finishing his lap with a 1m:15.123 to go fastest by 0.544 over Vettel. Webber had moved up to fourth with a
1m:16.807 on the option tyre. Vettel had pitted while Rosberg was on an improved lap. Button was also looking to go faster while Massa pitted. Rosberg had aborted his lap as Button moved up to second with a 1m:15.448. Rubens and Pastor were now tenth and twelfth.

On his next lap Rosberg would improve to move up to second, 1m:15.321, on the option tyre. Webber, Button, Rosberg, and Massa had all now pitted. Button would return to the track while Rubens and Pastor had now complete twenty four and thirty one laps respectively, as the last thirty minutes of the session started. Button would pit as Schumacher, on the option tyre, moved up to seventh, 1m:16.819. Sutil and Heidfeld were now in ninth and tenth, as Rubens and Pastor dropped to thirteenth and fifteenth. Pastor would pit as Vettel and Massa returned to the track. Schumacher would improve to be sixth with a 1m:16.603. Vettel was out again on the option tyre a longer run. Hamilton was back out on the track on the super soft tyre. He would finish with a 1m:15.456 to be fourth. On his next lap he was fastest in sector one but he would back off.

Rubens had pitted as we now had both Alonso and Rosberg back out on the circuit. Schumacher had pitted while after having slowed down was again on a quick lap going fastest in sector one, a personal best in the middle sector, to finish his lap in second with a 1m:15.228. Pastor was currently in fifteenth and again out on the track. We now had the top six all on the track with twenty minutes remaining. Heidfeld and Petrov were in tenth and eleventh. It was looking like the super soft tyre was proving to be quite durable as Hamilton
pitted. Alonso was on the prime tyre with fifteen minutes of the session remaining. The track was now very busy with just three cars still in their pits, one being the car of Rubens. With just over ten minutes left only the HRT cars were still in the pits. Vettel was up to around fourteen laps on the option tyre showing their degradation was promising.

With the track so busy it was unlikely that any quicker times would be set. Alonso would pit returning quickly having made a switch to the option tyre. Buemi would pit followed by Massa. Karthikeyan would return to the track with around five minutes left in the session. Rosberg would pit as Kovalainen would run down the escape area at Ste Devote. Petrov would crash his car losing control as he braked for the chicane. His right rear would hit the barrier and his front wing would also make contact and was knocked off. He would make his way back to his pit and was pushed back into his garage. As the session came to an end Rubens and Pastor were still in thirteenth and fifteenth. Fastest was Alonso from Hamilton and Rosberg. Button was fourth from Vettel, Massa, Schumacher, Webber, Sutil, and Heidfeld in tenth. The drivers were able to do practice starts prior to returning to their pits.

Both Williams drivers had set times that were around 2.5 seconds off the quickest times. Based on these they have a lot of work to do to find some extra pace from their cars. Pastor's earlier pace in the opening Thursday practice was not a good indication as to his true pace when compared to the other drivers as they set quicker times during the second session.

 
Maldonado
 
Pos Driver	    Team		   Time       Laps
 1.  F Alonso        Ferrari               1m15.123s  42
 2.  L Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes       1m15.228s  33
 3.  N Rosberg      Mercedes               1m15.321s  44
 4.  J Button       McLaren-Mercedes       1m15.448s  38
 5.  S Vettel       Red Bull-Renault       1m15.667s  46
 6.  F Massa        Ferrari                1m15.781s  45
 7.  M Schumacher   Mercedes               1m16.356s  33
 8.  M Webber       Red Bull-Renault       1m16.642s  42
 9.  A Sutil        Force India-Mercedes   1m17.101s  46
10.  N Heidfeld     Renault                1m17.126s  38
11.  V Petrov       Renault                1m17.337s  35
12.  S Perez        Sauber-Ferrari         1m17.541s  47
13.  R Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth      1m17.570s  39
14.  S Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m17.581s  32
15.  P Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth      1m17.633s  49
16.  K Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari         1m17.706s  37
17.  J Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m17.789s  43
18.  H Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault          1m18.266s  50
19.  J Trulli       Lotus-Renault          1m18.490s  39
20.  P di Resta     Force India-Mercedes   1m19.053s  15
21.  J D'Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth        1m19.185s  40
22.  T Glock        Virgin-Cosworth        1m19.338s  35
23.  N Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth           1m22.066s  33
 

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Monaco GP : Barrichello leads Maldonado in FP2
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 26/05/2011 15:03
Williams F1
26/05/2011 15:03
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