Chinese Grand Prix practice 1 live blog
Review the live blog for the first free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix below…
Some of the teams have already revealed details of changes this weekend.
On the KERS front, Ferrari are ditching the device having run it for the first two races. Robert Kubica, meanwhile, will be trying out the system for the first time at a race weekend. If he’s happy with it today, he could run it in qualifying and the race.
McLaren and Renault are both expected to have new diffusers – here’s a sneaky pic of McLaren’s. But will it be enough to get them in among the leaders?
Ferrari have also replaced Luca Baldisserri on the pit wall and brought back chief track engineer Chris Dyer as they bid to eradicated the mistakes that have plagued them in recent races.
This weekend the teams will be using the medium and super-soft tyres – the super-soft tyres have the green stripe.
Change to live blogging
There’s also change on the live blogging front. For the first time in over a year, we’re not using CoverItLive this weekend. The live blogs have been so busy this year that it’s become very difficult to moderate them, so as a trial for this weekend please post your comments below as you would on a normal article and we’ll see how things go.
Sadly, this will mean having fewer features to play with. But it should also mean far fewer comments being missed. I haven’t set the page to refresh automatically as it may cause a problem when you are typing a new comment. Click refresh on your browser (or press F5) to see new comments.
I have been looking for alternative live blogging solutions without much success. If you know of a good one please post a comment below or drop me a line.
Useful links
morning
no live blog? aww
hello anyway!
hi everyone
live pictures at http://www.justin.tv/vip_racing
Thanks Macca – if anyone else has a video link please post it.
Morning all, from Singapore. First time participating in a live blog. I’m actually posting from work
Really looking forward to this weekend of racing.
Morning Chua!
Hi guys – session just getting started now.
Good morning everyone!
Hello from my office desk in Sydney – which feels abit odd!
live timing up and running, no bbc feed yet
Mike Gascoyne reporting for BBC this weekend and he says Renault aren’t using a new specification of diffuser in this session.
Lewis Hamilton has a new front wing on the McLaren.
Hello all
The session has officially begun.
no live session on bbc yet! im missing it! noooooooooo!
I’m watching right now – Red Button on BBC1.
its working online now rob
wow what was massa doing?
KERS-watch: we’re one step forward, two steps back, apparently, with Kubica using it in Friday’s sessions but the Ferraris turning it off for the weekend.
/facepalm
Morning all…no tv coverage where I am, here is the stream I’m watching.
https://secure.justin.tv/vip_racing
i mean online! still not running! nooooooooo!
As per usual, lots of drivers doing an installation lap and then pitting again. Most have been out and back in now.
Hello everyone, here’s another link:
http://www.justin.tv/dragon_maclaren
I’m not digging the live comments. I used the live blog during Australia and Malaysia weekends and it was very busy. I don’t know if this is going to be the answer though. I really don’t feel like I participating in anything with anyone right now.
I have to say I find it disappointing that after such strong results Brawn still don’t appear to have attracted any new sponsors other than Virgin.
I’d have F1 Fanatic on there if I could afford it!
http://livetv.ru/en/eventinfo/22422/
Page with diverse links
Apparently Lewis with new diffuser, Heikki not…
I’m not sure about this new policy of Formula 1 bringing tyres that don’t work and fall apart after 5 laps.
Seems a bit silly. A very artificial variable.
Got a post coming about the tyres after FP2…
the bmw is a bit different isn’t it?
How’d you mean?
why do i not see the live feed anywhere on bbc? it was up but taking forever to stream…now its just disappeared
Is it me or does the BBC online coverage not work?
Im watching it on Justin.tv now though…but still :S
lol someone’s been doing donuts on the back straight
Yeah I saw that! Looked like lots of people have been doing burnouts on the way to the starting grid or something.
As last year it looks like the grandstands around turns 12 and 13 have been given over to an enormous advert rather than seating.
What does it say on the back of Nick Heidfeld’s rear wing? It doesnt say BMW Power?
yeah the bbc coverage online isnt working! not good bbc! c’mon, get it sorted!
Teams talking about having a super-soft tyre stint as short as 5-6 laps! That’s crazy.
why no one is doing laps??
Not sure! !5 minutes in, no timed laps so far. Presumably they’ve taken stock of the conditions on their out laps and are making changes and/or waiting for other people to clean the track up and start rubbering it in.
brawn have a new sponsor according to Kravitz
Apparently Brawn do have a new sponsor, so I stand (only partially) corrected.
Does Renault have their new diffuser already?
Apparently not.
ok bbc seems to be back up…sound quality and video much better
Yep
Enjoying Mike G’s commentary so far.
Morning everyone.
Yeah I thought he’d only be standing in for Eddie Jordan, but using his technical expertise in the pitwall commentary is very good.
Al Gorringe – some websites stated they only present something
hamilton on track
And he’s got the super-softs on.
Hooray! Hamilton and Buemi are on track!
haha Kimi’s icecream
Sorry guys but I don’t really like this way of bloging. I feel the same as Steve_P, I really don’t feel like I participating. It also takes to long for the page to load with live streaming opened as well. I hope you can go back to the old way for practice session two.
Feel the same way Macca
Thanks for the feedback guys. We’ll be using this system this weekend and I’ll see what I can to improve it. Top of the list is finding a way to have the page refresh automatically but not cut people off as they’re typing a comment. I’m looking for solution at the moment, and any help anyone could offer would be appreciated.
Hamilton seemed to slow down massively towards the end of his first lap.
hamilton not doing very well
Hamilton being told to test the moveable front wing flap. Someone’s using it!
He’s 6.8s slower than Buemi though – is Buemi on the medium tyres?
Buemi still 7 seconds ahead of Hamilton. That’s unusual.
hes not pushing the car over a full lap, seems to keep stopping in different places. Its not a problem but still…hes on super softs aswell. He should put in a competitive lap time