Bahrain 2010: Free Practice One

The winter is over, the engines have been fired up and drivers have taken to the race track in anger for the first time in 2010. The opening practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix completed earlier and it was the first time we all got to see the cars on the track together. The times set though are still varying due to fuel loads and as with all practice sessions, it is nigh-on impossible to gauge where everybody is in relation to each other.

Perhaps surprisingly though, it was Adrian Sutil who went fastest, beating the top teams and top drivers to head the timing sheet. Sutil’s laptime, 1m56.583s, was 0.2s faster than Fernando Alonso who showed good pace in the Ferrari. Of course, the times are greater than those set last year due to the new configuration being used at the Sakhir circuit.

Being the opening session, there were a few problems for many drivers and the track was very green, having not been used for a while and the wind blowing sand over the tarmac. Three drivers failed to set times, one of whom didn’t even get out of the garage. Lucas Di Grassi completed two laps but neither were timed, likewise Bruno Senna completed three un-timed tours of Sakhir. Karun Chandhok remained in the pitlane, the Hispania Racing car having only passed scrutineering this morning.

Other notable positions on the timing sheet include Felipe Massa, the Brazilian returning to full-time racing after his accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix last year. Massa went P4 in the sister Ferrari. The McLarens went P5 and P6, Jenson Button getting the upper hand on his team mate Lewis Hamilton. Vitantonio Liuzzi underlined the performance of the Force India, going P7 and only 0.031s behind Hamilton.

Nico Rosberg drove considerably better than his experienced team mate Michael Schumacher, the word in Bahrain being the multiple world champion isn’t entirely happy with the way everything is going. According to BBC Radio 5live, Schumacher requested his garage set up be changed, causing a headache for the mechanics and engineers who are used to the garage being configured a certain way. Schumacher went P10 in comparison to Rosberg’s P8.

Red Bull Racing went P9 and P13, Mark Webber driving better than Sebastian Vettel. Of the new teams who managed times, Timo Glock heads the rest with P19 although the German was over 2s slower than the Saubers ahead of him. Heikki Kovalainen finished his morning in P20, 0.122s ahead of his team mate Jarno Trulli.

Of the new drivers, Nico Hulkenberg ended his morning in P12, interestingly ahead of his team mate Rubens Barrichello who finished in P15. Russia’s first Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov completed his running in P16, although he was considerably shy of his team mate, Robert Kubica driving to a fine P3 time.

	Bahrain 2010 Free Practice Two	Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Completed
1.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m56.583s	18 Laps
2.	Fernando Alonso Ferrari	1m56.766s	18 Laps
3.	Robert Kubica Renault	1m57.041s	19 Laps
4.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m57.055s	19 Laps
5.	Jenson Button McLaren	1m57.068s	19 Laps
6.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m57.163s	19 Laps
7.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	1m57.194s	19 Laps
8.	Nico Rosberg Mercedes	1m57.199s	15 Laps
9.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m57.255s	17 Laps
10.	Michael Schumacher Mercedes	1m57.662s	16 Laps
11.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m57.722s	18 Laps
12.	Nico Hulkenberg Williams	1m57.894s	20 Laps
13.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m57.943s	17 Laps
14.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m58.399s	13 Laps
15.	Rubens Barrichello Williams	1m58.782s	11 Laps
16.	Vitaly Petrov Renault	1m58.880s	13 Laps
17.	Pedro De La Rosa Sauber	2m00.250s	18 Laps
18.	Kamui Kobayashi Sauber	2m01.388s	11 Laps
19.	Timo Glock Virgin Racing	2m03.680s	8 Laps
20.	Heikki Kovalainen Lotus	2m03.848s	21 Laps
21.	Jarno Trulli Lotus	2m03.970s	15 Laps
22.	Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing	No Time	2 Laps
23.	Bruno Senna Hispania Racing	No Time	3 Laps
24.	Karun Chandhok Hispania Racing	No Time	0 Laps