Sutil and Rosberg fastest in Bahrain grand prix practice
Sutil and Rosberg went fastest during Friday practice, however, the times weren't fully representative
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By Adam Leveridge
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Friday, 12, Mar 2010 01:03
By Adam Leveridge
Adrian Sutil in the Force India and Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes topped the timesheets during Friday practice ahead of the Bahrain grand prix.
Most drivers opted to concentrate on their individual programmes during both sessions and did not concern themselves with posting quick times and completing headline-grabbing glory runs, making it impossible to draw any conclusions on teams' relative pace.
The Lotus pairing of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli were the first to venture out on track to record timed laps, however, both were well off the predicted front running pace, circulating the extended Sakhir circuit in 2m03.
In contrast, Lewis Hamilton went five seconds faster on his first attempt in the McLaren MP4-25, setting a benchmark time of 1m57.759.
He was closely followed by his new team-mate and reigning world champion Jenson Button, who also recorded a satisfactory time on his initial timed run, with a lap in the 1m59s.
However, both continued to improve, with Button eventually beating Hamilton by one tenth with a 1m57.068, a time that was good enough for fifth place at the end of the first 90-minute free practice session of the year.
With approximately 30 minutes left in the session Fernando Alonso recorded a time of 1m56.909 to go quickest, beating the fastest time overall, set by Button and shuffling Hamilton, Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg down the order.
But Alonso's hold on the top spot was short-lived when Adrian Sutil in the Force India pulled out a 1m56.888 to go quickest overall.
The German would improve on his time again, recording a 1m56.583 - a time that would secure his place at the top of the leaderboard for the duration of the session.
Kubica ended P1 in third, four tenths down on Sutil's best time with a 1m57.014 and Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari also popped up in fourth before the session was run.
Meanwhile, Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel in the Red Bulls and Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes' languished down at the tail end of the times, only going quicker than the Sauber pairing of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi and the new entries to the F1 grid.
Bruno Senna and the HRT F1 team took to the track for the first time with approximately 20 minutes left on the clock.
After completing a very tentative installation lap, Senna returned to the track to complete a three-lap run in the dying minutes of the session, however, like Lucas di Grassi in the Virgin, he was unable to post a time.
Second practice got underway under blisteringly hot sunshine, with an air temperature of 33C.
Button was first to set a representative time in the 1m56s, however, the pace quickly improved, with Nico Hulkenburg recording a 1m56.7 and Hamilton improving by a further seven tenths with a 1m56.0.
However, despite being on the harder and more durable hard compound of tyre, Hamilton's blisteringly quick pace forced him to return to the pits after just four laps of the Sakhir circuit, having destroyed his tyres.
Nico Rosberg picked up the pace further on his first timed run, putting a buffer of four tenths of a second between himself and Hamilton in second place, by crossing the line in 1m55.555.
Williams' FW32 went well in the hands of both Rubens Barrichello and new boy Nico Hulkenburg, as they both appeared near the top of the times early on in the session.
However, both were relegated down the order as drivers settled in to their runs.
Having flat-spotted his tyres in P1, Vettel was hoping to make an impression on the Ferraris and the McLarens.
The German pushed hard during his opening stint and was in sixth with one hour left on the clock, behind the Williams of Hulkenburg and ahead of Sutil in the Force India.
But, after an off-track skirmish at the final turn, Vettel returned to the pits requiring new brakes, reporting a lack of grip at the apex and a genral lack of speed.
Rosberg, on the other hand, was able to improve on his time by one tenth, while his team-mate Schumacher in third sandwiched Hamilton with a 1m56.903.
Di Grassi in the Virgin managed to get his first time on the board during the opening minutes of the session, recording a 2m03.955 and Renault's Vitaly Petrov also put in a few impressive laps, climbing from tenth to fifth place as the session wore on, reaching a 1m56.7.
With around 15 minutes left in the session, the times remained static while drivers completed their individual programmes, with most opting to do long runs on heavy fuel.
Alonso found himself down in 13th with 15 minutes left of the session but, as the session came to a close, the Spaniard stepped up a gear and made his way up the times, rounding out his day in ninth place.