2014 Malaysian Grand Prix Friday - Practice
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A quiet first lap from Vettel, who is only 16th for now.
Ricciardo pops up to sixth place, 1.3s off the pace.
Both Red Bulls are on track now. They have yet to set any times.
Gutierrez has a bit of a moment on the run through Turns 5 and 6. Gets away with it unscathed.
Stopwatch
Magnussen now beats the Toro Rosso's time with a 1m41.274s to go quickest.
EDD STRAW: "Malaysia's straights aren't quite as long as they look. The longest here is just under 930 metres, which is significantly shorter than the longest in F1, which are up around the 1200m mark."
Stopwatch
A quick change at the top - Vergne goes fastest on a 1m41.402s, and then Magnussen puts the McLaren second.
BEN ANDERSON: "More practice problems for Kamui Kobayashi's Caterham. A fuel line issue scuppered his Friday in Melbourne and left him with very little time to prepare for qualifying and the race. Could be a similar story here if the team can't get his car turned around in time for FP2."
Quote
Esteban Gutierrez
Sauber has also had more problems than most optimising its brake-by-wire system. Gutierrez explained yesterday that this was a factor in his lap one incident in Australia.
"I made a small mistake, I braked a little bit too late. I misjudged the braking completely and with the new braking system we have it's very different to last year.
"I actually had a lot of space to the car in front and was not trying to attack or anything. When I braked, I just didn't make it.
"It, the braking, is not very consistent and you cannot really push it hard.
"It's quite delicate and it varies, so doesn't give you full confidence, but we are working on it.
"We made a lot of progress during testing for the first race and I think here we can also make a step."
Twitter
Looks like we won't be seeing Kobayashi again this session.
CaterhamF1: 5 laps in for @kamui_kobayashi but we've found a problem with his energy store so it's floor off to change it so he can run again in FP2
CaterhamF1: 5 laps in for @kamui_kobayashi but we've found a problem with his energy store so it's floor off to change it so he can run again in FP2
This time two weeks ago, Toro Rosso wasn't spending a lot of time on the road as its drivers grappled with braking issues.
All is smoother now, and indeed the team didn't really look back after Friday in Melbourne, getting both cars in the top 10 in qualifying and the race.
All is smoother now, and indeed the team didn't really look back after Friday in Melbourne, getting both cars in the top 10 in qualifying and the race.
Kvyat stays out and improves to seventh place, 1.1s off the pace.
He's still the only man on track.
He's still the only man on track.
Kvyat goes 12th with that lap.
McLaren is set to focus some of its programme on aerodynamic evaluation this morning, with the team introducing a host of updates for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.
JONATHAN NOBLE spoke to Jenson Button yesterday about the upgrades that Ron Dennis said would bring half a second.
Button said: "It is always difficult to really put a number on it, you have to do drive bys and what have you on the circuit to get an understanding of the aerodynamics and upgrades.
"On Friday morning we will be doing that to see if it is what we hope for.
"The new bits should help us with balancing the car. It is more than just sticking on downforce. It should help us achieve what we want with this car because we found ourselves limited in Melbourne."
JONATHAN NOBLE spoke to Jenson Button yesterday about the upgrades that Ron Dennis said would bring half a second.
Button said: "It is always difficult to really put a number on it, you have to do drive bys and what have you on the circuit to get an understanding of the aerodynamics and upgrades.
"On Friday morning we will be doing that to see if it is what we hope for.
"The new bits should help us with balancing the car. It is more than just sticking on downforce. It should help us achieve what we want with this car because we found ourselves limited in Melbourne."
Kvyat is one of the drivers yet to do a flying lap today, but he's stayed out and is on one now.
EDD STRAW: "Daniil Kvyat has never raced here in F1 before, and didn't do GP2, but that doesn't mean he's new to Sepang. He started six races here in Formula BMW Pacific in 2010, winning twice."
Toro Rosso
Kvyat comes back out.
EDD STRAW: "Interesting to note that Alonso has set the fastest time in sector two - 34.291s. No long straights in that part of the lap, which is mostly corners including the spectacular Turn 5/6 left/right sweep. Rosberg is fastest in the first and last sector."
Lotus will be pleased if that truck finds its way promptly back to the paddock. In Melbourne, Hamilton was a bit grumpy that his Mercedes wasn't retrieved until the end of the session following its Friday morning problem.
Grosjean's Lotus is now on the back of a truck.
Speed trap update, again based on the main speed trap 207 metres before the final corner:
1 Button, 315km/h
2 Massa, 314km/h
3 Bottas, 313km/h
4 Magnussen, 311km/h
5 Hulkenberg, 310km/h
1 Button, 315km/h
2 Massa, 314km/h
3 Bottas, 313km/h
4 Magnussen, 311km/h
5 Hulkenberg, 310km/h
With the half-hour bonus tyre period over, everyone is back in the pits.
Adrian Sutil runs wide at Turn 15 in his Sauber, looks as if he was trying to get into the pits.
Six cars still to do a flying lap: Kvyat, Perez, Maldonado, Ricciardo, Vettel and the problem-struck Grosjean.
Current order with half an hour gone:
1 Alonso
2 Magnussen
3 Rosberg
4 Button
5 Hamilton
6 Vergne
7 Hulkenberg
8 Sutil
9 Bottas
10 Raikkonen
1 Alonso
2 Magnussen
3 Rosberg
4 Button
5 Hamilton
6 Vergne
7 Hulkenberg
8 Sutil
9 Bottas
10 Raikkonen
Rosberg goes third fastest on a 1m42.089s, a tenth off the pace.
BEN ANDERSON: "Dropped in on Lotus last night. The team sounded more upbeat about this weekend, after managing to get both cars beyond half distance in the Australian GP.
"Essentially, Team Enstone is three weeks behind schedule and in desperate need of quality track time to close the gap to the rest.
"Yet another set back for the troublesome Renault-powered twin tusk E22."
"Essentially, Team Enstone is three weeks behind schedule and in desperate need of quality track time to close the gap to the rest.
"Yet another set back for the troublesome Renault-powered twin tusk E22."
Rosberg is now out and on the pace in the first two sectors.
Magnussen sets a new fastest time in the first sector but yellows for the Lotus are likely to scupper him.
His Lotus is stationary at the exit of Turn 9, and the marshals seem unsure on how to move it.
Romain Grosjean has stopped on track.
Magnussen improves to second place, 0.130s off pacesetter Alonso.
Raikkonen's first flying lap has put him ninth.
Magnussen is currently sixth but setting rapid sector times.
Stopwatch
As expected, Alonso to first place with a 1m41.923s, 0.6s up on Button.
Alonso could reclaim the top spot, he's on a better lap now.
Stopwatch
Button jumps to first, a 1m42.531s putting him 0.399s ahead of Alonso.
Vergne pops back into third ahead of Button. Now had 10 cars set times.
By: Matt Beer, Ben Anderson, Andrew van Leeuwen, Edd Straw, Jonathan Noble, Dan Cross
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