F1 - Malaysian Practice two

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Friday, 08 April 2011 09:20

The second practice session in Malaysia looks like it will be a dry outing for the field, while the track temperature sits around 49C. How nice for the drivers.

Renault is not running in FP2 until they completely understand the cause of their dramas in the first session. It now appears that both drivers may have suffered a problem with the suspension uprights, not the brakes as first thought but they are not 100% sure. D'Ambrosio looks to have had a wish bone failure under braking in his Virgin earlier today.

Alguersuari is the first man to leave the pits to kick things off, looking to struggle with finding grip before setting the first lap time, a 1m43.663s. Webber does a practice start as he leaves pit lane as Perez crosses to go in front of Alguersuari with a 1m42.171s.

Five minutes into the session and 17 cars are all ready out on track, Kobayashi the quickest of those who have set a lap time now with a 1m41.805s. He doesn't stay there for long as the positions change thick and fast.

Hamilton is out on hard tyres and becomes the first man to go sub 1m40s with a 1m38.987s, Schumacher into second with a 1m39.820s. Both of them are soon back in their respective garages as Maldonado studies data in his cockpit.

The Redbull's of Vettel and Webber are both far off the pace, suggesting they are carrying heavy fuel loads. Webber, on hard tyres, is told to look after his rears in high speed corners as tyre degradation continues to become more and more of a problem in the hot conditions.

Sutil leaves the circuit but is able to rejoin without damage before returning to his Force India pits. Webber continues to complain of a rear tyre issue after a stellar session this morning. Ferrari has been running on the experimental hard compound Pirelli which are designed to be more durable. Only two drivers remain on track as the majority of the field are in the pits to look over the data gathered, and more importantly, the state of their tyres.

Maldonado is the first back out on softs which sees him shoot to the top of the times after setting a 1m38.968s to go 0.019s in front of Hamilton. All drivers bar the three who suffered problems in the first session (Heidfeld, Petrov and D'Ambrosio) have set times as both McLaren's head back out. Massa is also on track again, this time with the hard compound which will be used during the race.

After a brief time back in the pits, Maldonado heads back out on hards with more fuel, looking to be working on race preparation, happy with his performance on softs, a time that is yet to be beaten.

45 minutes remain in the second session as Schumacher and Alguersuari make a liar out of me, both going quicker than Maldonado, posting a 1m38.088s and 1m38.846s respectively. None of them are sure to stay there long as Vettel and his rocket ship RB7 comes back out on softs.

Webber joins his team mate before they tag team each other at the top, first Vettel, then Webber, the latter setting an incredible 1m36.876s. Things are not going as well for the rest of the field. Maldonado has a brief excursion off the circuit, while Button has his DRS replaced after it fell off during his previous outing. The unluckiest of the lot is Liuzzi, whose HRT has stopped on track which sees him having to pull over at Turn Nine to climb out.

Renault are obviously feeling confident enough to take part as Petrov is off for his first timed lap with 42 minutes remaining. Maldonado brings the yellow flags out after spinning the Williams FW33 and gently touching the tyre barrier, causing minor damage to his front end.

The track has the all clear with 39 minutes remaining as Button looks to improve on his quickest time after changing to the soft Pirelli's setting a 1m36.881s, a mere 0.005s away from Webber.

Heidfeld is now making his first appearance in this second practice session, with Renaults weekend looking like it is going to improve. Schumacher has a field trip across the grass before returning to check for damage in pit lane.

Webber still tops the times, with Button, Hamilton and Vettel behind him all on softs. Ferrari are splitting the difference for its long run strategy, with Alonso on hards and Massa staying on the soft Pirelli's.

With only 13 minutes remaining almost the entire field are out to make the most of what time is left in the session. Fastest times don't look like they are going to be challenged as most are running with a heavy fuel load, testing how this affects the softs in the steaming conditions.

In the final five minutes it is easy to see the amount of rubber left on the racing line, which, combined with traffic, sees lap times dropping further and further, Button having just completed a 1m46.9s lap.

Two minutes remain and 20 cars are on track as the tyres fade and lap times slip into the 1:47s. Virgin aren't able to get D'Ambrosio isn't able to get on track, but Webber remains in the top spot from Button, Hamilton, Vettel and Schumacher as the flag is flown on the second practice session. Jacki Warnock

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