Force India
Friday Practise 1: A Study In Contrasts
By Alianora La Canta
July 10 2009
The two Force India drivers had wildly differing sessions. Adrian Sutil had the first session of his home race ruined by hydraulic problems after only six laps. Giancarlo Fisichella did well in both greasy and dry conditions to spend most of the session in the top five and finish fifth.
9:00am - Adrian Sutil leaves the pits, the second driver to do so. Giancarlo Fisichella is the sixth driver to embark on an installation lap.
9:02am - Adrian and Giancarlo have returned to the pits.
9:12am - Giancarlo leaves the pits.
9:15am - Giancarlo sets a time of 1:40.674, fastest time of all, as rain begins to fall.
9:17am - Giancarlo stays out, sets a time three-tenths slower... ...and then slides on the damp track (he has hard slick tyres on). He then heads to the pits.
9:19am - Giancarlo has pitted. Nobody is on the track and nobody is likely to be until the rain stops falling.
9:43am - After a grease-clearing break, Adrian Sutil heads out onto the track.
9:47am - Adrian sets a time of 1:28.094, placing him 12th of 15. Giancarlo, who is now 15th, emerges from the pits.
9:49am - Maurice Hamilton on Radio 5 Live declares that Force India have "an excellent chance" of scoring points this weekend, as Giancarlo does a 1:36.674 (placing him 14th) and Adrian pulls a 1:35.092 out of the bag to go 3rd.
9:50am - Adrian's car packs up with a gearbox failure (brought on by a hydraulic problem) and he has to park it. End of session for him, and it looks like he'll have to have yet another new box before the next session...
9:55am - Giancarlo takes 5th with a 1:34.698.
9:57am - Giancarlo goes 4th as Vettel parks in the same place as Sutil.
9:58am - Giancarlo goes 2nd with a 1:33.860.
10:03am - After three more laps which are slightly slower due to graining, Giancarlo pits.
10:08am - It turns out that Giancarlo has the sixth fastest apex speed of the session. He's currently the fourth-fastest driver, while Sutil is still 17th despite not havinga functional car to use on the ever-improving track.
10:15am - Giancarlo takes to the track. He seems to be on the same set of hard tyres as last run.
10:25am - Giancarlo hasn't set a green sector all run. Clearly this is a run for honing set-up, not for claiming fast times.
10:29am - Giancarlo goes up to 5th wth a 1:33.839.
10:30am - Giancarlo's final lap is not an improvement, but he finishes the session 5th. Adrian finishes 20th - no surprise given that he was the only driver who couldn't run in the last 25 minutes.
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
10/07/2009 10:35
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
