It seems to me that McLaren are still the frontrunners with their cars- particularly Lewis'- posting times right at the top of the leader board. Lewis was second fastest overall but Jenson experienced a slightly different practice session. He complained of "way too much understeer" and said he was struggling with his tyres whilst trying to find a good set-up. So Lewis may go faster on Saturday but due to his grid-place penalty may not start in front of Button on the grid.
Also fast were Mercedes and Michael Schumacher went fastest overall. Their controversial DRS-activated W-duct (/F-duct/whatever we're now calling it) no doubt helps them with flying lap pace but Mercedes have struggled on race day despite positive qualifying sessions. Nico Rosberg only managed fifth fastest so it will be interesting to see whether he can close the gap to Michael tomorrow.
(Image taken from automobilsport.com)
Red Bull have certainly made improvements to their car and Vettel and Webber were running on different exhaust systems for both practice sessions. Vettel feels "a bit more comfortable" driving his exhaust package so maybe some of the problems he was encountering at the start of the season have been addressed. We can only find out tomorrow as it was mainly qualifying where Red Bull looked to be seriously behind both Mercedes and McLaren.
Elsewhere, Ferrari could only manage tenth fastest with Alonso but remember that despite never having qualified higher than eighth, Alonso is still leading the world championship. Ferrari are in a strange position and even though Alonso won in Malaysia I'd say that was more due to the man and the conditions rather than the car. It won't be until the beginning of the European leg that we can think of the Ferrari as a big contender in qualifying.
(Image taken from ca.sports.yahoo.com)
Another point of interest; Kamui Kobayashi was faster than Perez but the young Mexican will be the centre of a lot of attention this week after claiming his first podium three weeks ago. A confident driver and a confident Sauber team will certainly be fancying their chances at another one in a couple of days time.
(Image taken from riotengine.in)
I can not wait for qualifying, I think I might enjoy it more than the race itself. Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration but it's always exciting and even more so now that the man sitting on pole is not a safe bet. However, if I was a betting person, I'd go with Lewis fastest in Q3 but Schumacher starting at the front. There is also the Red Bull battle to look out for as Vettel has been out-qualified by Mark both times this season.
It will definitely be worth the early start, so enjoy it and expect a little piece from me tomorrow on what the grid positions may mean for the race...
Aqsa
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