21/05/2011
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole free practice session the air temperature is 22 degrees, while the track temperature is 20 degrees. Like yesterday, it is bright and sunny.
Not for the first time this year, attention is on tyres, with Pirelli's new hard compound drawing a mixed reaction.
While championship leader Sebastian Vettel seems happy, rivals Lewis Hamilton, Jenson button and Fernando Alonso are not, branding them a "disaster" and "useless".
"It's difficult to think about going in Q1 with the hard tyre, so I think 95 per cent of the people will try to use one soft unfortunately in Q1," said Alonso. "We'll see if anyone takes the risk."
While Button, known for his tyre management, added: "It's hard, seriously hard, and at the moment we're struggling, I don't think you'd want to run more than one stint on it."
Indeed, only this morning, Mike Gascoyne tweeted: "Hard tyre is at least 2 seconds slower than the soft but the softs only last 15 laps with 3 sets available for the race of 66 laps".
The Red Bulls led the way in both session, however, Hamilton was able to give the Austrian outfit a run for its money in the afternoon, getting to within 0.039s of Webber's pace-setting time.
Mercedes continues to show signs of improvement, while Ferrari, certainly yesterday, is under pressure from Sauber and Renault this weekend. Then again, the Italian team had a raft of updates to try out yesterday using the day pretty much as a test session.
Among the numerous updates on the 150th Italia was a new rear wing which last night the FIA announced it was investigating. Earlier this morning the sport's governing body confirmed that the wing has been banned and cannot be used for the remainder of the weekend. The Maranello outfit has instead reverted to the wing used in Turkey.
The lights go green and there is a flurry of activity with 16 cars on track within the first few seconds.
Williams has opted not to run its new floor, the Grove outfit admitting that it hadn't really proven itself a step forward yesterday. They are persisting with their new rear wing however, or at least Barrichello is. Maldonado is sticking with the older version.
Four minutes into the session, everyone has been out for an installation lap, only Schumacher and Rosberg staying out for a second lap. Rosberg gets it all wrong at the chicane, while Hamilton also runs wide, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Twelve minutes into the session, Trulli is the first driver out for a second run. As the Italian begins his first flying lap, Karthikeyan, Glock and Button head down the pitlane.
The Lotus driver crosses the line at 1:30.924, however, this is soon beaten by Petrov who posts a 30.418. Liuzzi goes third ahead of Glock and Karthikeyan who complains that his DRS is not working.
As Schumacher goes quickest in S1, di Resta goes straight to the top of the timesheets with a 30.120. The German is quickest again in S2, however a mistake in the final sector means he can only manage fourth (32.093).
A 27.826 sees Kobayashi go quickest, ahead of di Resta, Petrov and Heidfeld, only for Schumacher, on a mistake-free lap, to take the top spot with a 26.599. Moments later, teammate Rosberg goes third with a 28.086.
Webber goes quickest in the first two sectors, crossing the line at 24.750 and thereby snatching back the top spot from his former Williams teammate who had just posted 26.356.
High drama as Nick Heidfeld climbs from his car which has caught fire, flames pouring out from underneath the car. Replay show the fire starting at the back of the car in Turn 10; "the car is on fire," says the German cooly. "Ok, we can see it, get out," is the response.
Meanwhile, Hamilton goes second (24.888), ahead of Rosberg, Schumacher, Maldonado and Petrov - the Russian having been ordered back to the pits just to be on the safe side.
With Vettel yet to post a time, Webber raises the bar with a 23.486. Massa goes fifth (26.786), while his Ferrari teammate, like Vettel and Button, has yet to post a time.
At half-time, it's: Webber, Hamilton, Rosberg, Schumacher, Perez, Massa, Maldonado, Buemi, Petrov and Sutil.
As Vettel waits resolutely in his car - his crew working on the back end of his car - Button and Alonso finally get to work. On his first flying lap, the Spaniard goes fourth (26.258), failing to improve on his next lap. Button goes third (25.140) having gone quickest of all in S3.
"The car's undriveable," Alonso complains, not what his team, or the many thousands of fans in the stands, want to hear. Elsewhere, Schumacher goes quickest in S2 and again in S3, crossing the line at 23.057 to go quickest. The German is the first driver to make the switch to the option (soft) tyre.
With 20:20 on the clock Vettel has still to post a time. However, as he watches the action unfold on his monitor he doesn't look too bothered… far from it.
Rosberg makes it a Mercedes 1-2, the German losing time in the final sector stuck behind a slower car. He crosses the line at 23.397, 0.340s down on his teammate.
Massa (softs) goes quickest in S1, eventually crossing the line at 24.332 to go fourth. Elsewhere, Heidfeld arrives back at the Renault garage.
Kobayashi (softs) improves from twelfth to third with a 23.669. Elsewhere, Maldonado is lucky not to end up in the kitty litter again, the Venezuelan running perilously wide.
Kovalainen improves to twelfth, the Finn continuing to rule the roost at Lotus.
Alonso and Webber are both on hot lap and both on softs. Whereas the Australian goes quickest in S1, the Spaniard is struggling for grip. "We have time for 5 timed laps," the Ferrari driver is told.
Webber goes quickest overall, the Red Bull driver posting 21.791. Alonso improves to fifth with a 24.270.
Both McLarens are on track, running just a couple of hundred yards apart. Both posts PBs in S1 and again in S2. As Webber goes quickest in the first sector, Hamilton goes third (23.068) and Button fourth (23.214). Despite going quickest in two sectors Webber fails to improve.
Replay shows that Alonso is stuck in sixth gear, the Ferrari driver heading back to the pits.
With 2:35 on the clock Vettel finally leaves the pits, the German with sufficient time for one, possibly two, flying laps.
On his first flying lap of the day Vettel goes quickest overall in S2, crossing the line at 21.707 to go quickest. Job done!
There isn't time for a second lap, the German having misses out by just a few seconds. Nonetheless, that one lap was enough to demoralise his rivals - and no doubt his teammate - especially as he's saved quite a bit of rubber.
Behind Vettel, it's: Webber, Schumacher, Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, Kobayashi, Petrov, Alonso and Barrichello.
Massa is eleventh, ahead of Perez, Maldonado, Buemi, Sutil, Alguersuari, di Resta, Kovalainen, Trulli, Glock, Liuzzi, d'Ambrosio, Heidfeld and Karthikeyan.