Friday, May 11, 2012

Spanish Grand Prix: Glory lap by Alonso

It was a bitter and sweet afternoon for the Spanish crowd watching the Friday practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix 2012.

Fernando Alonso who is adored by many of his fellow countrymen, didn't fail to charm the friday crowd in the Spanish Grand Prix and scored the P1 position at a time of 1:24.430. This was achieved in Ferrari's B- specd car. Alonso was 0.378 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel of Redbul. Alonso's team mate in the other Ferrari, was down in 12th place a massive 1:003 seconds adrift.Michael Schumacher was 6th with a timing of 1:25.187 and his team mate Nico Rosberg was 14th with a timing of 1:25.607.

However, in the second practice Fernando Alonso could only score at 14th fastest lap time and his team mate who is generally struggling for the past two years scored a 11th fastest time. Jenson Button scored the P1 in the second practice followed by Sebastian Vettel. Nico Rosberg was third, Hamilton fourth, Raikkonen fifth, Grosjean sixth, Webber 7th followed by Schumacher at 8th position. Interestingly Schumacher drove 36 laps whereas his team mate Nico Rosberg drove 41laps ie. 5 laps more than him. With tyre degradation to become a major factor, it is important to see how the drivers cope up tomorrow as well as in the race day on Sunday.

The Indian fans were disappointed, as in the morning session Narain Karthikeyan didn't drive as Dani Clos - a spanish driver was given the drive to have an all spanish drive - as per earlier plan. In the second practice Narain Karthikeyan's car had developed an electrical problem and when he ventured very late in the second practice his car promptly stopped in turn three. We have to watch the impact of this lack of driving on Narain tomorrow. For the record, Dani Clos was a massive 2.511 seconds slower than his team mate Pedro de la Rosa, both of them driving 19 laps each.



The timings in First Practice:

First Practice
Sl. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari  1:24.430 20 laps
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull  1:24.808 0.378 18 laps
3 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber  1:24.912 0.482 28 laps
4 Jenson Button McLaren  1:24.996 0.566 24 laps
5 Valtteri Bottas  Williams   1:25.120  0.690  24 laps
6 Michael Schumacher Mercedes  1.25.187 0.757 15 laps
7 Romain Grosjean Lotus  1:25.217 0.787 16 laps
8 Lewis Hamilton McLaren  1:25.252 0.822 20 laps
9 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus  1:25.285 0.855 29 laps
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India  1:25.339 0.909 24 laps
11 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso  1:25.367 0.937 22 laps
12 Felipe Massa Ferrari  1:25.433 1.003 21 laps
13 Mark Webber Red Bull  1:25.539 1.109 23 laps
14 Nico Rosberg Mercedes  1:25.607 1.177 20 laps
15 Sergio Perez Sauber  1:25.918  1.488 19 laps
16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso  1:26.226 1.796 24 laps
17 Pastor Maldonado Williams   1:26.297 1.867 18 laps
18 Jules Bianchi  Force India  1:26.630 2.200 21 laps
19 Vitaly Petrov Caterham  1:27.475 3.045 20 laps
20 Timo Glock Marussia  1:28.267 3.837 21 laps
21 Alexander Rossi Caterham  1:28.448 4.018 25 laps
22 Charles Pic Marussia  1:28.633 4.203 22 laps
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT  1:29.107 4.677 19 laps
24 Dani Clos HRT  1:31.618 7.188 19 laps



The Timings in Second Practice:








Second Practice
Sl. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Jenson Button McLaren  1:23.399 38 laps
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull  1:23.563 0.164 38 laps
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes  1:23.771 0.372 41 laps
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren  1:23.909 0.510 32 laps
5 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus  1:23.918 0.519 32 laps
6 Romain Grosjean Lotus  1:23.964 0.565 37 laps
7 Mark Webber Red Bull  1:24.065 0.666 34 laps
8 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1.24.080 0.681 36 laps
9 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber  1:24.214 0.815 41 laps
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India  1:24.365 0.966 22 laps
11 Felipe Massa Ferrari  1:24.418 1.019 35 laps
12 Sergio Perez Sauber  1:24.422  1.023 32 laps
13 Pastor Maldonado Williams   1:24.468 1.069 40 laps
14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari  1:24.600 1.201 33 laps
15 Paul DiResta Force India  1:24.688 1.289 30 laps
16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso  1:24.733 1.334 34 laps
17 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso  1:24.769 1.370 37 laps
18 Bruno Senna Williams   1:25.047 1.648  42 laps
19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham  1:26.296 2.897 36 laps
20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham  1:26.740 3.341 35 laps
21 Timo Glock Marussia  1:27.314 3.915 27 laps
22 Charles Pic Marussia  1:27.664 4.265 30 laps
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT  1:28.235 4.836 26 laps
24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 2 laps





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