Site icon FormulaRapida.net

Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap in Friday morning at Catalunya

Hamilton’s Mercedes has excelled for almost a second over Button. McLarens have been the ones that made most laps in a first session full of mechanic problems for Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.

It seems like the arrival in Europe does not mean that Mercedes are losing their competitiveness. Lewis Hamilton has made ​​it clear, and despite its errors in track he set his best time nearly a second faster than Button. Seems like pole position is going to be silver.

Despite the great performance of the British driver, his teammate Nico Rosberg was unable to drive for a long time. He made nine laps during the beginning of the session, but stopped and the car was in pieces. The mechanics removed the flat bottom of the car and seemed like they intended to reach batteries. The question is whether everything will be solved for the second session.

Another troubled driver was Sebastian Vettel. He stopped his car in the middle of the track and worked as an official, helping to lift the car up and continuously spraying the back with a provided fire extinguisher. He wants to go back to being the driver who was last year, but still unhappy and uncomfortable.

McLaren, meanwhile, are working well again: marked good times and taken many turns. Alonso also stayed on truck in front of his audience, setting the fourth fastest time behind Daniel Ricciardo.

The Lotus Renault also took profit of the session and were sometimes the only drivers on track. Any corrections made by Maldonado and Grosjean in order to keep the car on the line suggest that improvements are still insufficient.

The second practice session is at 14:00 local time.

 

UPDATE:

Red Bull Racing confirmed that Sebastian Vettel will not take part in FP2 for electric problems.

 

Timetable:

 

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.023 17
2 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.891 0.868 26
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:27.973 0.950 21
4 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:28.128 1.105 23
5 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:28.168 1.145 9
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:28.337 1.314 19
7 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.423 1.400 27
8 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:28.744 1.721 34
9 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:28.779 1.756 18
10 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:28.791 1.768 13
11 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:28.792 1.769 24
12 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:28.828 1.805 17
13 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:28.859 1.836 24
14 40 Felipe Nasr Williams-Mercedes 1:29.272 2.249 15
15 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:29.688 2.665 16
16 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1:29.820 2.797 22
17 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:29.944 2.921 21
18 36 Giedo van der Garde Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.440 3.417 22
19 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1:30.748 3.725 19
20 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:30.942 3.919 4
21 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:30.997 3.974 22
22 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1:31.421 4.398 22