Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari came to a halt in flames and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi survived a dramatic crash as Jenson Button topped the times for McLaren in Friday’s first practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Buemi came safely through a frightening incident late in the session when the front wheels exploded off his Toro Rosso at the end of the long main straight, both tyres clearing the safety fence as the Swiss came to a halt in the gravel.
The session was red flagged and there was a 10 minute break before the last five minutes were completed, but nobody was able to better world champion Button’s one minute 36.677 seconds from his seventh lap around the 5.451 kilometre circuit. Times of India
For much of the session the McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton set the pace until they were split by Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes, and when the session resumed for a brief few final moments after the Buemi red flag the only leading runner to improve significantly was Michael Schumacher in the second Mercedes.
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Jenson Button Fastest in First Practice at Shanghai
Formula 1: Chinese Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Lewis Hamilton Fastest in Second Practice at Shanghai
Formula 1: Chinese Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Thus Button was fastest with 1m 36.677s from Rosberg on 1m 36.748s and Hamilton on 1m 36.775s. Schumachers best, 1m 37.509s, was 0.832s off the top.
Behind them Sebastian Vettel took fifth on 1m 37.601s ahead of the well-matched Renaults of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov (1m 37.716s and 1m 37.745s), and Mark Webber’s sister Red Bull on 1m 37.980s.
Adrian Sutil turned a 1m 38.008s for ninth for Force India, the German also earning a reprimand from the stewards for setting a fastest sector time under yellow flags, with Felipe Massa completing the top 10 with 1m 38.098s. It was not an auspicious session for Ferrari, however, as Fernando Alonso’s F10 stopped after six laps with suspected engine failure, leaving him in 24th place without a time. The Spaniard was running the same V8 that the team had opted to change after qualifying in Bahrain, following some anomalies in its performance readings. Formula 1
POS DRIVER ENTRANT TIME 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:36.7 2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:36.7 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:36.8 4 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:37.5 5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 01:37.6 6 Robert Kubica Renault 01:37.7 7 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:37.7 8 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 01:38.0 9 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:38.0 10 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:38.1 11 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:38.2 12 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:38.4 13 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:38.4 14 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 01:38.6 15 Paul Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 01:38.6 16 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:38.7 17 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:39.9 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:41.5 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 01:41.8 20 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:41.8 21 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 01:42.2 22 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 01:43.9 23 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 01:43.9 24 Fernando Alonso Ferrari No Time
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