2014 Chinese Grand Prix Friday - Practice
Live Text
Sort by
With half an hour left and everyone having done a soft-tyre run, here's the order:
1 Hamilton 1m38.315s
2 Alonso 1m38.456s
3 Rosberg 1m38.726s
4 Ricciardo 1m38.811s
5 Vettel 1m39.015s
6 Massa 1m39.118s
7 Raikkonen 1m39.283s
8 Button 1m39.491s
9 Grosjean 1m39.537s
10 Kvyat 1m39.648s
11 Hulkenberg 1m39.736s
12 Magnussen 1m39.744s
13 Vergne 1m39.759s
14 Bottas 1m39.930s
15 Perez 1m40.124s
16 Gutierrez 1m40.359s
17 Sutil 1m40.395s
18 Maldonado 1m40.455s
19 Bianchi 1m42.327s
20 Chilton 1m43.473s
21 Kobayashi 1m43.530s
22 Ericsson 1m43.679s
1 Hamilton 1m38.315s
2 Alonso 1m38.456s
3 Rosberg 1m38.726s
4 Ricciardo 1m38.811s
5 Vettel 1m39.015s
6 Massa 1m39.118s
7 Raikkonen 1m39.283s
8 Button 1m39.491s
9 Grosjean 1m39.537s
10 Kvyat 1m39.648s
11 Hulkenberg 1m39.736s
12 Magnussen 1m39.744s
13 Vergne 1m39.759s
14 Bottas 1m39.930s
15 Perez 1m40.124s
16 Gutierrez 1m40.359s
17 Sutil 1m40.395s
18 Maldonado 1m40.455s
19 Bianchi 1m42.327s
20 Chilton 1m43.473s
21 Kobayashi 1m43.530s
22 Ericsson 1m43.679s
That lap brings Raikkonen up to seventh place.
Raikkonen embarks upon his second run and is now sampling the soft tyres.
Now Magnussen is back down to 11th as his team-mate Button jumps to seventh.
Ericsson and Raikkonen are the only drivers who have yet to run on the softs.
Magnussen moves back into the top 10 for McLaren (in 10th) with his soft tyre run, having slipped deep into the midfield as others changed rubber.
Stopwatch
Hamilton goes top with a 1m38.315s, which is 0.141s faster than Alonso.
Quote
Rosberg radios in for some future assistance: "Is there any way for you to help me out on the pit exit? I can't see anyone on the pit exit."
Further improvements on soft tyres bring Vettel, Massa and Grosjean into fourth, fifth and sixth.
Stopwatch
But now Alonso beats them both, he puts Ferrari back on top by lapping in 1m38.456s, 0.270s ahead of Rosberg.
Ricciardo takes second on soft tyres, his 1m38.811s just 0.085s off Rosberg.
Hamilton has completed his first run in the repaired Mercedes and is in fifth place.
Maldonado's mishap had shades of Hamilton's infamous crash at the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix which scuppered the Englishman's hopes of landing the title in his maiden year.
The Venezuelan is trundling back to the Lotus garage as his vehicle is extracted from the (minuscule) gravel trap.
The Venezuelan is trundling back to the Lotus garage as his vehicle is extracted from the (minuscule) gravel trap.
Maldonado 2007
EDD STRAW: "That's not the first time we've seen Maldonado crash in a pit entry. He also did so during Friday practice in Malaysia when driving for Williams a few years ago.
Stopwatch
Rosberg shoots to first place on softs with a 1m38.726s, 0.525s quicker than Alonso's time on mediums.
EDD STRAW: "We've seen Maldonado and Perez improve by two seconds on the softs compared to their medium-compound run. Rosberg improved by a second."
Perez is now on softs and has moved up to third for Force India.
Crash
Maldonado appears to have crashed into the wall on the approach to the pitlane.
Half an hour of the session completed and the main developments are:
* Alonso, Rosberg and Ricciardo are the current top three.
* Raikkonen's technical issue has been addressed and he is seventh fastest
* Hamilton had a suspension problem and missed the first 30 mins
* Alonso, Rosberg and Ricciardo are the current top three.
* Raikkonen's technical issue has been addressed and he is seventh fastest
* Hamilton had a suspension problem and missed the first 30 mins
Rosberg is now out on the soft-compound Pirellis, so expect to see him hit top spot in the not-too-distant future.
Hamilton's suspension problem is solved and the Mercedes takes to the track.
Meanwhile Raikkonen has moved up to seventh as he gets the Ferrari up to speed.
That soft-tyre lap from Maldonado thrusts the Lotus up to fourth.
Maldonado is the first to go out on the soft Pirellis this weekend.
Raikkonen's first flying lap of the day puts him 15th.
Improvement from Bottas, bringing his Williams into sixth.
Stopwatch
Now it's Alonso back on top - he does a 1m39.251s and beats Rosberg by 0.541s.
And Raikkonen finally joins the fray.
Ricciardo slips into the gap between Rosberg and Massa to take second.
Stopwatch
Rosberg comes through to beat everyone again, though. His Mercedes in 0.996s faster than Massa.
Stopwatch
Now it's Felipe Massa and Williams on top with a 1m40.788s, beating Vettel by a tenth and a half.
But now here comes the Mercedes response, as Rosberg set a new benchmark in sector one.
The track temperature has inched up to its highest so far today at 22C.
Stopwatch
Vettel does indeed go fastest, a 1m41.087s then beats Kvyat by two tenths.
The mechanics are still working on Hamilton's car at the moment as they try to fix his suspension issue.
Good lap brewing from Vettel, could take him to the top or close to it.
Now it's just Raikkonen and Hamilton left as Ricciardo and Alonso begin their first runs. Both the pitbound men had technical problems in practice one.
A host of cars have joined the fray in recent minutes, taking the list of no-shows so far down to Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton.
EDD STRAW: "As usual, we are seeing everyone running on medium rubber early on in this session. Later on, they will bolt on the soft tyre for the first time, so it will be interesting to see how that behaves. We'll also see some more long runs this afternoon."
Button also improves and is now third fastest, 0.018s down on his McLaren team-mate.
By: Matt Beer, Dan Cross, Ben Anderson, Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman, Pablo Elizalde
Published:
Lap:
