F1 2009 Race 3 Shanghai

Chinese GP - First practice


After the drama of the FIA International Court of Appeal and the announcement from the McLaren Mercedes team during the build up to the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, these issues were briefly put to one side this morning in sunny Shanghai as practice ahead of Sunday’s 56-lap third round of the championship got underway.

Lewis Hamilton gave McLaren something to smile about for the first time in a long while as he set the pace with a best time of 1:37.334s. Hamilton’s MP4-24 features a revised aero package and rear diffuser as he topped the timesheets for the first time this year, a tenth of a second clear of the field.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were second and third fastest respectively for Brawn Mercedes with Heikki Kovalainen slotting into fourth position in the second McLaren. Kovalainen was one of many to suffer with sever tyre graining late in the session with dark rings clearly visible on the rear tyres, something that did not affect his team-mate with the revised McLaren.

Mark Webber was fifth fastest in the leading Red Bull Renault from Jarno Trulli in the Toyota. Nico Rosberg has dominated many of the practice sessions so far this year but the Williams Toyota driver confirmed this week that the Grove-based team are now looking to run with a slightly heavier fuel load in the Friday running to prepare for the third and final round of qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

This underlines the confidence Rosberg now has in the FW31 package as the low fuel runs of Q2 are no longer deemed a major issue.

Rosberg was seventh fastest ahead of Timo Glock in the second Toyota while Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Bourdais rounded out the top ten for Renault and Toro Rosso Ferrari.

Ferrari, having scrapped KERS this weekend in the hope of finding greater reliability, saw Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa record the 11th and 15th best times respectively, the latter suffering from excessive graining resulting in a number of off-track moments.

Sebastian Vettel set the 12th best time in the second Red Bull Renault ahead of Sebastien Buemi and Adrian Sutil while BMW Sauber showed little pace with Nick Heidfeld just 16th ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella and team-mate Robert Kubica. Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet brought up the bottom of the timesheets for Williams and Renault.

With just 1.5 seconds covering the 20 runners this morning, the second practice session gets underway at 08.00 CET, 14.00 local time.


F1 : A boost for Hamilton and McLaren - Shanghai - F1-Live.com

Button back on top with Brawn!
Chinese GP - Second Practice


The lap times tumbled this afternoon in sunny Shanghai and there was a more familiar look to the timesheets with Jenson Button setting the pace in the Brawn Mercedes with a best lap of 1:35.679s.

As ever in the second practice session of the Grand Prix weekend, the teams opted to run the super soft tyre for the first time in anger with Button setting the pace on his second run with the option tyre. Underlining the raw pace of the BGP 001 package, Rubens Barrichello ended the day with the third fastest time, just two-tenths adrift.

Nico Rosberg split the Brawn duo with his final soft tyre run late in the session, lapping just 0.025s slower than Button in the increasingly competitive Williams Toyota. Rosberg could well have piped Button best time were it not for a small error under braking at the end of the back straight on his first timed lap with fresh rubber.

Mark Webber and Sebastian topped the timesheets for much of the 90-minute session following their first run on the option tyre but the Red Bull Renault duo were later bumped down to fourth and fifth positions, just under half a second off the ultimate pace.

It was a busy session for Jarno Trulli as he completed 42 laps, more than any other runner, looking to make up for lost time following a small electrical fault in the morning session. The Italian veteran was sixth fastest in his Toyota ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams and team-mate Timo Glock in the second TF109.

After topping the timesheets in the morning session with Lewis Hamilton, the afternoon programme would prove a little more difficult for the under-pressure McLaren Mercedes team. Hamilton was 13th in this session and unable to extract extra pace from the option tyre despite the new aero-package at his disposal this weekend, while only a late push from Heikki Kovalainen saw him vault from 19th to ninth just ahead of the chequered flag.



Sebastian Bourdais had a solid day in his Toro Rosso Ferrari as he set the tenth best time, just 1.1 seconds off Button’s pace while Adrian Sutil was also showing well in 11th in the leading Force India Mercedes.

Ferrari are not running KERS this weekend in the hope that they can find better reliability, but today in the three hours of practice the F60 looked a real handful with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen slithering around to 12th and 14th respectively.

Sebastien Buemi picked up the pace late in the session and recorded the 15th best time in the second Toro Rosso Ferrari ahead of Nelson Piquet in the leading Renault. Piquet spent much of the session languishing at the bottom of the timesheets but his late run at least propelled him a little way up the order.

It was the usual Friday story over at BMW Sauber with neither Robert Kubica nor Nick Heidfeld being able to coax much pace out of the disappointing F1.09 package. Kubica spent much of the day acclimatising to KERS but it was notable that even when bolting on the option tyre, the lap times simply would not come. Kubica ended the day 17th with Heidfeld 18th.

While Flavio Briatore is saying the championship is all but over already, double world champion Fernando Alonso must also be harbouring similar feelings after being just 19th ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella this afternoon. Alonso only completed 28 laps in what looks to be another tough weekend for Renault

F1 : Button back on top with Brawn! - Shanghai - F1-Live.com

Adrian Sutil of Force India currently placed at 11th.. That's in front of both the Ferraris and BMWs, as well as ahead of Hamilton. Ferraris and McLarens need to take some drastic measures now. ;)

So..race about to start in 20 minutes from now...
Both Vettel and Alonso are very low on fuel but if they get a good start and can fly away they still have a chance. Brawns still look to be a realistic bet. I'll be satisfied if Kimi can finish the race within top 5 but for that he'll have to finish the race first. Hamilton too have a good chance of finishing in top 5.

Raining heavily but atleast eh radar predicts that the clouds are on their way out. Lets see. Start under SC is as boring as it can get

Race started under safety car.. !!

Its now on. SC is out.
Taiko is in trouble. Complaining of electrical problem.

Hamilton is doing pretty well
Imo has a great chance to go onto the podium today ) Just overtook Kimi.

Major reshuffling in top order as of now.. Alonso is towards the tail end.

Kimi still ahead of Hamilton as of now..!