March 13, 2014

Alonso tops first practice session of the new F1 Turbo era


The first practice session of the 2014 Formula 1 season did not follow the script.   In the weeks leading up to Melbourne, all the talk was about the speed and reliability of the Mercedes and the disaster at Red Bull.
But it turned out to be Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes W05 who claimed the dubious honor of being the first car to pull off the side of the track,  just  a lap into the session.

By the end, Alonso scored the best time,  the only driver in the 1:31s with 20 laps.  The biggest surprise was Red Bull,   not so much with their speed but that they managed 26 laps with Ricciardo and a more modest 10 with Vettel.   Given the pre-race reports that has to be...an improvement anyway.

Not everything deviated from script,  both Lotus' spent most of the session in the pits. When Maldonado finally went out on track, he almost put it in the wall.   Grojean never made it out of the garage.

Oh, and Chilton ran over one of his pit crew but at least he put a time on the board which is more than Hamilton, Kobayashi, Ericson, Maldonado and Grojean can say.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m31.840s            20
 2.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m32.357s  +0.517s   23
 3.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m32.403s  +0.563s   27
 4.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m32.431s  +0.591s   19
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m32.599s  +0.759s   26
 6.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m32.604s  +0.764s   17
 7.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m32.793s  +0.953s   10
 8.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m32.847s  +1.007s   28
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m32.977s  +1.137s   18
10.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m33.446s  +1.606s   30
11.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m33.533s  +1.693s   23
12.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m33.855s  +2.015s   24
13.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m34.272s  +2.432s   27
14.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m35.578s  +3.738s   7
15.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m36.445s  +4.605s   13
16.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m40.859s  +9.019s   6
17.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m46.922s  +15.082s  4
18.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault                           1
19.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                                   1
20.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault                           1
21.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault                              2
22.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault                              2


1 comment:

  1. I bet Fernando is surprised and ecstatic to find himself P1 after first practice. We'll see where he is in the mix come July, but this season Bottas could really solidify his status as the new kid on the block. And hey, enough of the snide remarks, you guys give Max Chilton, or put more accurately, Maxipad Chilton...give Maxipad Chilton a break. He's trying damn it. He's still my underdog favorite for the 2014 World Drivers title. He may be fifteen seconds back, but like Kate Upton, sometimes good things take a little time to develop.

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