McLaren stay ahead in second practice

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Hamilton set the fastest time around the Shanghai circuit

Lewis Hamilton put McLaren on top of the times sheets in the second practice session at Shanghai.

Nico Rosberg split the McLarens with Jenson Button third having been fastest this morning.

Button was one of several drivers to struggle with traffic during the session, shaking his first at Lucas di Grassi after getting stuck behind the Virgin driver.

Fernando Alonso, who missed most of first practice due to an engine failure, had a similar encounter with Bruno Senna at the long turn 13. And Robert Kubica almost collided with Karun Chandhok.

Sebastien Buemi was unable to join in the second session after his crash in practice this morning. But team mate Jaime Alguersuari covered more laps than anyone else – 43 – and set the eighth-quickest time.

At Force India Vitantonio Liuzzi returned to his car which had been used by Paul di Resta this morning. He ended the session 16th, 1.6s slower than Adrian Sutil.

Jarno Trulli was the quickest of the new teams’ drivers but team mate Heikki Kovalainen ended his session early when his T127 came to a halt on the track.

Chandhok put HRT in front of one of their rivals, lapping the Shanghai circuit a tenth of a second faster than di Grassi.

Pos.CarDriverCarBest lapLaps
12Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’35.21726
24Nico RosbergMercedes1’35.4650.24822
31Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’35.5930.37626
43Michael SchumacherMercedes1’35.6020.38528
55Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’35.7910.57430
66Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’35.9950.77829
714Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’36.2541.03731
817Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’36.3771.1643
911Robert KubicaRenault1’36.3891.17229
108Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’36.6041.38733
117Felipe MassaFerrari1’36.9441.72736
1212Vitaly PetrovRenault1’36.9861.76927
1322Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’37.4212.20432
1423Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’37.4312.21433
159Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’37.6572.4430
1615Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’37.8042.58731
1710Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’37.8672.6529
1818Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’39.6244.40735
1919Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’39.9474.7330
2024Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’40.2335.01627
2120Karun ChandhokHRT-Cosworth1’41.0085.79132
2225Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’41.1075.8928
2321Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth1’41.3456.12832
2516Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari0

2010 Chinese Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    59 comments on “McLaren stay ahead in second practice”

    1. It’s funny, when Button tops practice, the headline says Button fastest, but when Hamilton tops practice, the headline gives the credit to McLaren and then goes on to make excuses for Button.

      1. Oh please… get over it… if there is anything to get over in the first place…

        It’s clear that with FP1 Button was the one to highlight, with Hami topping FP2 it made it a MCLaren Duo…so yes McLaren topped both practices while Button topped the first…

        Makes sense, it’s not funny and it’s surely not partial…

      2. Please not this again, Keith is one of the most fair journalists I have read. If you think that why keep visiting?
        It is practice and if either of the two have issues then it will be written. I have never once read excuses.
        You’re a great member of the community here, you’ve been here longer than me so forgive me but I don’t mind debate or raising a concern but it is becoming the same thing every week and is unfair on Keith’s reputation. He puts in a lot of work which we all benefit from so I find the whole thing rather ungrateful nevermind inaccurate.

      3. Do they really all do that?

      4. What can I say? I have no interest in doing disservice to Hamilton, nor in trying to exaggerate Button’s achievements. You’re reading far too much into a 38-character headline.

        1. Supporting Keith on this one. Good reporting.

        2. I stopped coming here for a while because I got so tired of all the conspiracy theorists banging on about Lewis. Just keep doing what you’re doing Keith, and thanks.

          1. OK but if the people who can spot idiot conspiracy theories all go off to other sites then there isn’t much point in me doing what I’m doing, is there?

            I want to foster a good level of debate here but it doesn’t happen without a effort from both sides.

            1. Well, I came back didn’t I? I’m not sure that ‘reading far too much in to your 38 character headline’ constitutes a good level of debate, but there’s plenty else here to inform and stimulate. I can’t think of another driver who provokes such extreme reactions as Hamilton and his supporters can be a bit heavy handed in his defence.

            2. I would never stop reading the site. I think I’ve read something on this site nearly every day since mid ’07. I have found that I barely read comments or make my own anymore. I know it’s a product of how great of a job you do with this site, but in the last few months you’ve starting to attract some off the wall comments from people on here. I’m not going off to read another blog those. I read this website everyday and check out Joe Saward’s posts every few days. Between the two, there is nothing else I ever need to know about the F1 world!

      5. It is a great conspiracy that aims at destroying LH’s career entirely just by using keen and witty headlines. We also put salt in his milk. And steal his newspaper.

        1. If anyone attempts to destroy Hami’s carreer it’s his stupid actions now and again… he’s a great driver, for sure… but as a character, i think he’s nowhere near the rest…thinks he can get away by being nice and polite… i don’t think so…

          Liegate, spygate, hoongate, nicolegate, fathergate, hangingfromtheceilinginturkeygate, wavingonpetrovgate..

          1. I missed the hangingfromtheceilinginturkygate, can someone enlighten me please? :-(

    2. Does R30 have barge boards?

    3. Chandhok improved 3 seconds! All team-mates are close together except for Liuzzi. Is there anything on him doing things differently?

      1. He didn’t take part of FP1, FP2 was his first outing

    4. Mercedes power rules!!! Shumi closer to Nico in this session ..but still can’t catch him. Jensen would have been closer to Lewis but held up by traffic on flying laps when options at their best. Are Red Bull and Ferrari hiding their real pace as usual on Friday?

      1. Yes I would say so.

        1. Maybe ‘hiding’ is the wrong word. It does seem they have different philosophies when it comes to their weekend programme.

          1. Bearing in mind McLaren’s problems with their one lap pace in qualifying it makes perfect sense (to me at least) that they should focus on their one lap pace in free practice.

          2. It’s early so pardon me..

            Ferrari nor Red Bull seemed to tried to run quick laps during entire first day of practice. FP1 and FP2 have gone to the McLaren duo, Kubica, Rosberg or Sutil so far.

            FP3 have been dominated by Ferrari and RedBull. Funny thing Vettel never been fastest during FP so far yet taken the pole twice during quali. Only Webber so far been fastest during FP3 and later taken pole in quali.

            So I wouldn’t put any weight on todays result just yet. Wait until FP3 so see more of the picture what teams are a head.

      2. It’s not a matter of hiding. It’s simply a different approach or different emphasis.

        Red Bull and Ferrari each did only one or two qualifying simulations where Mercedes and McLaren did three or four.

        The results only show the fastest laps so really only the qualifying simulations show in that list.

        1. Exactly, to me the Ferrari’s and Red Bull’s looked much better on heavier fuel loads than the Merc’s & Mclaren’s. But then who knows exactly what fuel loads they had in?

          Funny thing Vettel never been fastest during FP so far yet taken the pole twice during quali.

          That says it all really.

      3. Ferrari are hiding their engines from high revs.

    5. A good show by Mclaren although I think with the new tyre regulations FP1&2 times are not worth all the effort we put into trying to read them. I can’t see past the red bulls this weekend and both them and Ferrari still have to show true times.

    6. “Are Red Bull and Ferrari hiding their real pace as usual on Friday?”

      Oh yes, and maybe Ferrari are also hiding another batch of engines for Fernando.

      3 races gone, 16 to go and already he’s used up 25% of his engine allocation and seriously affected his engine strategy for the rest of the season.

      1. Didn’t Ferrari put the engine that blew up in Malaysia in Alonso’s car this weekend? That was my understandnig based on what I had read on various reputable sources.

        1. I’m pretty sure I read it was the one from Bahrain practice that was overheating they stuck in. So he’s lost 2

          1. Jarred Walmsley
            16th April 2010, 20:39

            Yep, It was the overheated Bahrain engine

    7. yesterday there’s news a bout ferrari and mercedes are testing their f-duct today.

      are these two teams really did that today?

      mercedes looks fast today.

    8. It looks like Mercedes & Mclaren will use the same horse power to ran away from this race where red Bull will use the cornering speed to win the race. Not sure about Ferrari.

    9. Seems Karun Chandhok gets the better hand over the youngester Senna. But McLaren is definally the ones to watch this weekend that X-duct is really giving them wings. Ferrari is not on the speed during pratices i think they safe the engines a lot. I think most crews are using a new engines as it’s the fourth race?

    10. McLaren and Mercedes are putting in masses of qualifying simulations. Are they trying out their new legal ride height systems to see how much they matter? Or did they simply decdide that qualifying is where it’s at and that the race pace is meaningless with the new ban on refuelling?

      1. No new suspension system for McLaren, and yes, McLaren have decided that track position is equally as important as optimum race pace setup.

        1. Well they said that they didn’t change the suspension, but who’s to say that that is fact?

          1. Maybe, but they seem to have pretty good race pace as it is, they’re falling behind ferrari and rb in quali though, so it seems thats the way to go

    11. Any news on Ferrari’s F-duct ? was it useful or …..

      1. Alonso was faster than Massa. But then he was faster than Massa before too …

        1. Actually, it turns out tha tthey only tested a part of the F-Duct. Not a working system yet.

    12. There’s no point drawing any conclusions from Friday practice, so here are mine:

      Mercedes’ upgrades appear to be working – Nico surprisingly almost matching the McLarens in sector 3 even sans f-duct.

      Jenson on the pace straight away – which is not always the case. Means he’s happy with the car and points to a good weekend.

      Cannot judge Red Bull and Ferrari true pace. No real data on Ferrari’s f-duct.

      Torro Rosso’s front suspension upgrade went a bit wrong.

      Very damn lucky no-one got hurt by Buemi’s flying tyres. Crazy how they both hit the tyre barrier which catapulted them both over the fence.

      1. Yes, just as well spectator numbers were so low!!!!!

    13. Shouldn’t it be “shaking his fist” ?

      Will Buemi be able to qualify/race ?
      Or is his car under investigation?

      1. I should think the car will be ready for P3 and quali tomorrow.

        Did the team change Algersuari’s front suspension set-up before P2? They said on BBC they would revert Buemi’s to the old proven set-up, so i assume they changed Jaime’s before P2?

    14. McLaren on the pace, supposedly. But topping practice won’t mean squat if they get qualifying wrong again.

    15. Just a quick question Keith, if the article headline says “McLaren stay ahead in second practice”, then why show a picture of a Ferrari, with a caption about Alonso’s failed engine?
      I know the whole article is about FP2, but the article headline is about a certain team topping the time sheets.
      I’m not suggesting any prejudice or conspiracy here, the pic just doesn’t go with the headline.

      NB: Its the same in the first article regarding who will win. Again, there’s a Ferrari pic. If anything, judging on form alone, it should be a Red Bull pic.

      1. Yeah… Do you have too much time or something ? Maybe there’s not enough pics of Renault, too? Or maybe the angle from which the Lotuses are depicted is unfair for their livery? You’re being given great articles practicly every day and still you’re picky… I just can’t get it…

        1. Note though, that Keith did change the picture!

      2. Because I didn’t have a picture of McLaren at first. It’s updated now.

    16. Schumi_the_greatest
      16th April 2010, 13:27

      kb davies…..get a life mate…

      mclaren looked good in practice in malaysia too until they fluffed quali with the rain and they reckoned they had found 3 tenths going into that weekend, so unless theres a wet quali we should see some improvement from mclaren

      hard to judge though and until we see the rbr and ferrari true pace its hard to call

      1. I like your username, but all kbdavies was really trying to do is point out the mis-matched headline and picture, not suggest some sort of conspiracy like the very first post in this comments section.

    17. @ Sandman and Schumi_the_greatest – You obviously are the ones with issues.
      This is the same forum where people pedantically point out numerous typo’s and miss-spelling errors.
      It wasn’t an issue of a McLaren picture, it was more of the fact that the article heading did not go with the pic displayed. It a bit like posting an article saying “Nick Clegg wins first televised debate” beside a pic of Gordon Brown! Even Keith could see that.

      Moreover, the post was addressed to Keith, not to any of you numpties (im sure thats the plural of numpty), and I’m sure he is quite capable of defending his editorials.

      1. misspelling
        :D
        I’m only pulling your leg, I’ll get me coat…

    18. Mclaren looks good…so does mecedes..but its just practice..its normally practice 3 that ferrari and rbr shows their hand in quali pace..i am impressed by chandhok..after australia ,he has been consistently outpacing his more rated teammate

    19. Schumi_the_greatest
      16th April 2010, 14:53

      kbdavies…..numpties eh?

      i think the point your missing here is that alot of people appreciate what keith does on this site, and yes a few people do point out the odd typo he makes but i think in general keith appreciates them if hes missed that, your comment came across more as a criticism of his article.

      Meanwhile im off to join some more of numpties

      1. So do i. It certainly wasn’t meant as a criticism, and i hope Keith certainly didn’t take it that way.
        That’s why I’ve never pointed out any typo’s or errors before – seeing as Keith wholly writes, proof reads, and maintains the site all by himself – all, with no financial recompense. A truly herculean feat that none of us could even begin to undertake.

        1. all, with no financial recompense

          Although I do write pretty much everything myself (apart from guest posts) I also earn my living from the site!

    20. Suggestion: On the lap time list, instead of thicker lines dividing the list into three, put a thicker line after 1’35”, 1’36”, 1’37” etc so we get a better idea of the spread.

    21. Tbh both Red Bulls are together again in 2nd practice just like last year, and both have set a similiar time to 2009. They also timed together the same in 3rd practice but vettel ended the winner on race day.

      2009: 2nd practice
      Webber: 1:36.105 -4th
      Vettel: 1:36.167 -5th

      2010: 2nd practice
      Vettel: 1:35.791 -5th
      Webber: 1:35.955 -6th

      Rosberg is 0.299 faster then he was last year which I guess shows the Mercedes power, but for me it doesn’t show If Rosberg is giving it all or is holding back still.

      The Red Bulls look to be holding back again, since it looks like the same 2009 strategy. Because how can we say the RB6 is not better then the RB5 this year, so they must be holding back. The only problem for Red Bull this time round is Hamilton and Alonso have a better car.

      1. “The only problem for Red Bull this time round is Hamilton and Alonso have a better car.”

        RedBull seem to have a similar advantage to what Brawn did over the rest of the field in the early part of 2009. Only difference being that they seem to be not making the most of it.

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