Oliver WhiteRunning has begun in Shanghai for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. Now that the diffuser issue has been settled we can return to racing and although there is the possibility of further sanctions against McLaren, it hasn’t stopped them or slowed them down. Lewis Hamilton headed the tables after the first 90 minute session, and team mate Heikki Kovalainen wasn’t far behind in fourth. the Woking team are running an interim ‘double diffuser’.
Elsewhere in the tables, the Red Bulls were split with Mark Webber going fifth quickest and Sebastian Vettel only going twelfth. The Renaults were also split with Fernando Alonso completing nineteen laps to ninth and Nelson Piquet Jr. ending up in the final position, over 0.7s shy of his team mate.
Nico Rosberg ran well in seventh as did the Toyotas, although Timo Glock skated over the grass on more than one occasion. Both Scuderia Toro Rossos looked good in the first practice, and Force India also capitalised on the low running of the second Renault, the second Williams of Kazuki Nakajima and both BMWs.
Ferrari languished closer to the bottom of the tables along with the BMW pilots, and it would seem that removing the KERS from the Ferrari F60 has had little effect. The BMWs often run heavy in practice, so it isn’t a total surprise to see them nearer the tail of the timing sheet, and Robert Kubica managed to lap within 0.01s of Nick Heidfeld with the KERS firmly attached to the F1.09.
Shanghai 2009
|
Lap Time
|
Laps Set
|
1. |  Lewis Hamilton McLaren |
1m37.334s | 22 Laps |
| 2. | Jenson Button Brawn |
1m37.450s | 18 Laps |
| 3. |  Rubens Barrichello Brawn |
1m37.566s | 19 Laps |
| 4. |  Heikki Kovalainen McLaren |
1m37.672s | 23 Laps |
| 5. |  Mark Webber Red Bull Racing |
1m37.752s | 20 Laps |
| 6. |  Jarno Trulli Toyota |
1m37.764s | 19 Laps |
| 7. |  Nico Rosberg Williams |
1m37.860s | 24 Laps |
| 8. | Timo Glock Toyota |
1m27.710s | 24 Laps |
| 9. |  Fernando Alonso Renault |
1m38.089s | 19 Laps |
| 10. |  Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso |
1m38.195s | 24 Laps |
| 11. | Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari |
1m38.223s | 23 Laps |
| 12. | Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing |
1m38.274s | 20 Laps |
| 13. |  Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso |
1m38.307s | 26 Laps |
| 14. | Adrian Sutil Force India |
1m38.319s | 18 Laps |
| 15. | Felipe Massa Ferrari |
1m38.418s | 20 Laps |
| 16. | Nick Heidfeld BMW |
1m38.456s | 21 Laps |
| 17. | Giancarlo Fisichella Force India |
1m38.460s | 19 Laps |
| 18. |  Robert Kubica BMW |
1m38.463s | 21 Laps |
| 19. |  Kazuki Nakajima Williams |
1m38.730s | 25 Laps |
| 20. | Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault |
1m38.825s | 20 Laps |
[…] it was made clear that removing KERS from the cars has not helped so far this weekend. In the first practice session, Kimi Raikkonen went P11 with team mate Felipe Massa finishing in P15. The second 90 minute stint […]