Chinese Grand Prix practice 2 live blog
Review the Chinese Grand Prix practice 2 live blog below.
Lewis Hamilton was fastest in this morning’s first session with Heikki Kovalainen fourth – suggesting McLaren’s revised front wing and diffuser have improved the MP4/24. The second session will give us a better picture of how quick their car is this weekend.
The Brawn duo were second and third but Ferrari stood out for all the wrong reasons – the KERS-less F60s down in 11th and 15th.
But tyres look set to be a talking point this weekend as drivers found the super-soft compounds degraded very quickly and struggled to get the medium-spec rubber up to temperature. Will it continue to be a problem in this second session?
Change to live blogging
In a break from the norm we’re not using CoverItLive this weekend because the live blogs have been so busy that it’s become very difficult to moderate them. You can join in the live blog by posting comments below.
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
The next session is less than five minutes away. It’s still dry in Shanghai and the track is two degrees hotter than it was at the end of the last session – 34C.
hi keith..how’s the weather there in shanghai? and how does the mclaren front wing look, i can’t see any difference earlier..
It’s got those extra ‘mini wings’ attached to the inside of the front wing end plates. I was confused in the first session because at first BBC said only Hamilton had it, but later on Kovalainen did too.
Any teams other than McLaren with new diffusers?
Sorry if this has already been covered, been away from PC
Renault were the other team that were expected to have one but they didn’t appear to use one during the session.
Hi all…didn’t participate in the first session due to absence of live blog….thought ill give this a try anyway….
I think Ferrari have again taken a bad decision not to use KERS
They were off the pace in the first session. Might not be KERS though – tyres are going to be critical this weekend.
It’s dry and getting a bit warmer than before, but still cooler than expected.
A train of cars is now leaving the pits.
Hi All,
It seems to be sunny 20c air temp
Hi guys, who is commentating now?
On BBC it’s Maurice Hamilton and Ian Phillips.
Anu predictions for the session..
Any…
How can Macca be suddenly quick..?.I think their only problem was the diffuser
They’ve got a revised front wing as well. But apparently they’ve got bigger changes coming for Spain, which could include a ‘true’ double-decker diffuser.
They are having kers in addition to the diffuser..
hopefully we will see Rosberg and Vettle improving…
Drivers are getting straight into the laps this time, Alonso is quickest but 1.6s off this morning’s pace.
Alonso’s on a 1′38.923 now, 0.9s off his best this morning. Trulli second then Vettel, Fisichella and Piquet.
sutil p1..
Sutil goes firstest!!!!!!!!!!
“firstest”????? this mean who is fastest first huh??????? lol
Lots of action early on – Sutil now fastest from Bourdais! Looks like the track is quicker already.
Meanwhile Piquet’s had his usual off already.
Nice one Adrian!
bad lap from kimi
I would like Vettel to win this race …We will see a real challenge between Vettel and Webber
lol hi from usa i just heard on the speed coverage that flavio had to hitch a ride on bernies plane the parts for the car could get to china
Raikenon not looking good………
Typical of an Italian manufacturer. Electrics in Fiat’s and Alfa’s are notoriously problematic, looks as though that curse has carried over to Ferrari’s KERS.
Bourdais and Nakajima go top and both have also beaten their marks from this morning already.
Busy on track right now – only Alonso, Piquet, Kubicca, Rosberg, Hamilton and Heidfeld not out there.
I am in office so cant see video…only live timings…
Not even the video at the top of the page?
cant boss will shout if i watch it…..;)..
Afternoon all…thanks for the avatar linky keith.
You’re welcome! It’s 7:12am in the morning over here though
10 to 1 in the morning here hi y’all
i am not sure why piquet is spinnig so often?……
He doesnot deserve a seat at all…I would like to see Liuzzi in the cockpit.He is more a decent driver than many on the track
Word is Liuzzi will be in the Force India next year in place of Fisichella – and possibly sooner than that.
Want to put the avatar..plz give link for the page which says how to put it…
See the ‘useful links’ above…
Rosberg, Hamilton and Heidfeld yet to set times in this session.
Kovalainen has gone back to the old McLaren front wing.
Tora Rosso doin good…
Meanwhile Hamilton has the new one on back in the garage.
ya a couple of drivers should be out of f1 completely the names for me are bourdais should go back to le mans piquet should be out period and raikkonen should just retire at the end of the year his heart is not in it anymore he wants to rally to bad
you missed fissi
Nakajima’s in P1 following Buemi and Sutil’s P1s? This is proving to be a strange session…
keith..saw lewis’ front wing..the change is the front piece now longer and reaches the nose-wing bridge? something like last years’ bridge wing..almost..
Yep quite a few teams have brought that style back.
Here comes our practice hero………
Indeed! Rosberg quickest…
A lot of the drivers have returned to the pits now. We have a Willians one-two, Rosberg from Nakajima, then Buemi, Barrichello and Bourdais. But Trulli is on a hot lap now.
Jarno has set a purple Sector 1 and looks good for P1.
Truli goes P1
Trulli on the super-softs does a 1′36.684 – fastest time so far this weekend.
That’s less than a second of the best time in the same session last year. Here’s a comparison:
2009:
FP1 1′37.334 (Hamilton)
2008:
FP1 1′35.630 (Hamilton)
FP2 1′35.750 (Hamilton)
FP3 1′36.061 (Heidfeld)
Q1 1′35.566 (Hamilton)
Q2 1′34.947 (Hamilton)
Q3 1′36.303 (Hamilton)
R 1′36.325 (Hamilton)
SPEED doing a good job here in USA…
Did you weigh in on the debate earlier this week?
What do US F1 fans think of Speed?
Anybody noticed new steering wheel design in Hamiltons car? Heikki has the traditional McLaren steering wheel but Lewis has a different looking one.
Is that definitely new? Steering wheels can often differ out of personal preference.
And he’s straight into another quick lap with a 1′36.361 – but when will he start to suffer the tyre degradation?
1:36:361 – Jarno Trulli is making everyone else look silly at the moment.
is torro rosso back to form.I read somewhere that now the entire chasis is same as redbull.Previously they were missing some parts
p1 time is droppping to last years’ pole time..i thot the fia were trying to slow down the cars..looks like we’ll get into the .35s here..
Thanks man keith avatar thing is cool….
We’ve got a few prancing horses now! (Yours is a bit different though).
Here comes Glock to make it a Toyota 1-2, 0.2s slower than Trulli, also on the super-softs.
Hamiltons front left was off the ground too
Now the Red Bulls take over the top of the times sheets, Vettel from Webber, both on 1′36.1s, separated by 0.012s.
Track looks like it has more grip.