Red Bull set the Formula One pace Friday as Mark Webber had the fastest time in practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, edging out McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Continuing where the team left off from the successful season opener in Australia, Webber finished just 0.05 quicker than Button, with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel both within a quarter of a second — setting the stage for a qualifying clash between the top two teams Saturday.
There was a gap between those drivers and the rest of the field on a humid but dry day at the Sepang circuit. Mercedes drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg were fifth and seventh, respectively, and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was sixth.
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F1 Standings Ahead of Malaysian Grand Prix
Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in First Practice at Sepang Circuit
Formula 1: Malaysian Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in Second Practice at Sepang Circuit
Webber’s finish should be a boost after a disappointing season opener in his home Australian Grand Prix. Webber said the performance was “definitely better than Melbourne” but that the McLarens still pose a difficult challenge.
“I hope we can get rid of the gray guys,” Webber said, referring to the color of the McLaren cars. Washington Post
Nick Heidfeld did a good job to put his Renault R31 eighth on 1m 38.570s. He missed a lot of the session, as did team mate Vitaly Petrov, as the team investigated what they now believe to have been front-suspension upright failures this morning rather than brake problems as first suspected.
Jaime Alguersuari was 10th for Toro Rosso on 1m 38.846s, ahead of Pastor Maldonado, who at one point displaced Hamilton from first place. The Venezuelan lapped his Williams FW33 in 1m 38.968s then went from hero to zero by crashing lightly into an advertising hoarding while coming into the pits, but later got going again. Formula 1
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:36.9 2 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:36.9 3 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:37.0 4 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:37.1 5 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:38.1 6 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:38.1 7 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:38.6 8 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:38.6 9 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:38.6 10 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:38.8 11 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:39.0 12 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:39.2 13 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:39.3 14 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:39.4 15 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 01:39.6 16 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 01:39.6 17 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:39.8 18 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:40.1 19 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:40.9 20 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 01:41.9 21 22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 01:43.2 22 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 01:44.0 23 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 01:44.9 24 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth No time
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