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The opening
Friday practice session for the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix would see the
normal stream of drivers coming out for their installation laps. For the
AT&T Williams F1 team Pastor Maldonado would take to the track first
followed by team-mate Rubens Barrichello. The whole field would complete
their laps but Rubens would complete a second lap. Both Mercedes cars would
continue and start a timed lap. Schumacher would set a 1m:19.730 followed by
a 1m:16.778 prior to pitting. Rosberg would set a 1m:28.310 followed by a
1m:21.326 and he too would then pit. Rubens would be using a new helmet
design for this weekend looking very much line Ayrton Senna's. Jan Charouz
had replaced Liuzzi for this session at HRT and he would return to the track
along with Senna and Grosjean in their Renault's. Pirelli had brought a new
soft tyre and a medium tyre for the weekend.
Charouz would set a 1m:23.800 to be third. Grosjean would now be second with
a 1m:17.368 followed by Senna. Ricciardo was now out on the track while
Charouz improved with a 1m:22.080. Senna was now fastest with a 1m:16.774
while Grosjean had improved
with a 1m:16.821. Charouz was now fourth with a 1m:21.026 but Ricciardo
would move ahead with a 1m:20.208. Perez was now out followed by Alonso.
Grosjean was now fastest with a 1m:16.072, from Senna and Schumacher. Alonso
would pit after another installation lap. But he was quickly back out
followed by Schumacher and Rubens. Ricciardo was now fourth with a
1m:19.491. Grosjean was able to find a few tenths setting a 1m:16.069 while
Senna also improved with a 1m:16.697. Perez was up to fourth with a
1m:18.563 as we had Massa and Hamilton also out on the track. Both Renault's
had pitted as Glock moved into sixth. Rubens would take this spot with a
1m:19.865 as Massa went fastest with a 1m:15.774.
Schumacher was now fourth followed by Alguersuari, Perez, Ricciardo, and
Rubens in eighth. Schumacher had improved to be second, 1m:15.914. Rubens
had improved with a 1m:18.493 to be seventh. Hamilton's first effort would
see him fourth, 1m:16.404. The
times continued to improve with Hamilton going fastest with a 1m:15.078,
from Massa and Schumacher. Rubens was on a better lap setting a 1m:17.407 to
be eighth. We now had several other drivers come out including Vettel, Di
Resta, Hulkenberg in the second
Force India. A 1m:15.628 from Schumacher but he would remain third. The
second McLaren of Button was leaving the pits while team-mate Hamilton set a
1m:14.503. Alguersuari was now fourth but he would move up one spot to be
third, 1m:15.588. Rubens would again improve with a 1m:16.516 to be seventh.
Pastor was now out on the track as more drivers came out making the track
very busy. Vettel was quickly on the pace setting a 1m:14.667 to be second.
Hamilton would also lower his time with a 1m:14.296 to remain fastest.
Rubens had dropped to eleventh and had pitted with fifty four minutes
remaining. Button was now in third, 1m:14.675, as Pastor started his first
timed lap.
Hamilton would pit as Webber took to the track. Vettel was second followed
by Button, Massa, Alguersuari, Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Perez, and
Kobayashi in tenth. Rubens was now twelfth while Pastor had set a 1m:17.115
to be fifteenth. Vettel had improved his time with a 1m:14.575 but remained
second. Hulkenberg would improve with a 1m:15.387 to be fifth. Pastor had
run wide at the Senna S putting two wheels onto the grass approaching Turn
two. He was able to continue without any damage. Pastor was able to find
time setting a 1m:16.264 to improve up to twelfth. Rubens was now fourteenth
while at the front Vettel would go fastest with a 1m:14.025. Webber was down
in sixteenth with a 1m:17.350. Of the top ten we only had Massa and Grosjean
out on the track with forty five minutes remaining. Alonso had yet to set a
time as Webber improved to be ninth, 1m:15.645. On his next lap he would
jump up to fourth, 1m:14.766. But this would become fifth as Massa moved up
to third, 1m:14.507. Pastor had pitted while Rubens came back out. Webber
was now up to second with a time of 1m:14.040 to be just 0.015 behind
Vettel.
With forty minutes left in the session there was just five cars on the
track. This would become four as Senna pitted. Rubens was on a better lap
setting personal bests in the first two sectors ending with a 1m:16.413 but
remained in seventeenth. Button and
Alonso were back out with Alonso starting a timed lap. Webber would pit
after completing eleven laps. Rubens would again find time setting a
1m:16.170 to be fourteenth. Pastor was now fifteenth as Hamilton took to the
track. Kobayashi would spin at Turn ten but he was able to continue. Button
was third, 1m:14.164, followed by Hamilton, Massa, and Hulkenberg. Rosberg
and Schumacher were ninth and tenth. Rosberg would improve his time with a
1m:15.321 to be seventh. Button would also find time going fastest with a
1m:13.950 while for Ferrari Alonso would set a 1m:15.099 to be sixth.
Hamilton was also on a quicker lap with thirty minutes remaining. He would
finish with a 1m:13.963 to be second. Vettel was back out while for Williams
Rubens would pit and Pastor would come back out. The track was again very
busy with just four drivers in their pits.
Pastor was now fourteenth, 1m:15.913, while Rubens was sixteenth. Button
would pit while Grosjean would stop at the exit to the pits. Alonso had also
come back in as Grosjean's car was pushed out of the way. Rubens was back
out as Hamilton pitted with both Red Bull cars out on the track. We had a
McLaren one-two followed by two Red Bull's and two Ferrari's, with twenty
minutes remaining. Pastor had pitted while Rubens had improved to now be
fourteenth with a 1m:15.739. Pastor had dropped to sixteenth, 1m:15.836.
Webber was now fastest with a 1m:13.811 from Button and Hamilton. Rubens
would improve one place to be thirteenth, 1m:15.663. Fifteen minutes
remaining and the track was again quite empty with just a handful of cars
out on the track. Rubens had pitted while of the top ten we only had Alonso
and Rosberg out on the track. Ten minutes left in the session and we had
both McLaren's back out while Pastor would also come back out. As the final
minutes counted down more drivers were back out on the track. Alonso would
go through the Senna S corner pulling off the track asking for his team to
check his engine. He would eventually get out of his car while his car would
be craned away. Ferrari would confirm that it was an engine failure.
Only Hamilton and Rubens remained in their pits but with just a few minutes
left Rubens would come back out. With the end of the session Webber would
remain fastest from Button, Hamilton, Vettel, Massa, Alonso, Schumacher,
Hulkenberg, Di Resta, and Rosberg in tenth. Rubens would complete the
session in thirteenth and Pastor sixteenth. Very early days for the Williams
team as they work through their setup programme. |
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