Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel tops all practice sessions of Chinese Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel topped the three practice sessions of the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix with the fastest time yet again.
The German was the only driver to finish in the 1 minute 34 second region. His fastest time was 1:34.968 after doing a total of 13 laps in the practice period.
His Red Bull was effectively two tenths faster than the second placed Jenson Button. Nevertheless, it was still an encouraging session for the McLaren team. The Briton’s lap time was 1 minute 35.176 seconds. Making it another McLaren in the top three, Lewis
Hamilton did a 1 minute 35.373. The two McLaren drivers did 15 and 14 laps respectively.
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes finished 4th fastest ahead of the two Ferraris. The Mercedes have been rather impressive since the second practice session where both drivers finished in the top 5. This time round, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso’s time
was merely a tenth quicker than Felipe Massa’s which might suggest how similarly the two Ferraris were set up. Drivers from the 2nd to 6th place were all in the 1 minute 35 second range.
Vitaly Petrov finished 7th in his Renault. The Russian did a total of 18 laps while his fastest lap time was 1 minute 36.098 seconds.
Adrian Sutil, Michael Schumacher and Paul di Resta rounded up the top 10 while Hispania Racing Team seem to have sprung in a surprise at the expense of Virgin’s suffering.
However, HRT’s dream run seems to have come to an end as Virgin appear to have sorted their Friday problems sorted. Both Virgin team drivers finished above the HRT drivers. The difference between the slowest Virgin to the fastest HRT was about six tenths
of a second which is a huge gap between the two bottom-of-the-table rivals.
Red Bull dominated Friday with Vettel taking the honours in both the outings but McLaren continue to impress. Ferrari suffered a setback when they were unable to evaluate their new aerodynamic parts as Alonso faced a hydraulic problem while Renault need
to tighten its screws.
Would Sebastian Vettel continue his dominance heading into qualifying on the same day or will the McLarens fight back? Let’s wait and watch.
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