Webber leads damp Singapore practice

September 24, 2010 at 12:34 pm by Keith Collantine

Championship leader Mark Webber was fastest in first practice at Singapore.

The session started on a wet track and the championship contenders avoided the first hour of running as the track dried out, waiting until the later stages to set their first flying laps.

But despite the treacherous conditions all of the 24 drivers kept their cars out of the walls.

There were a few off-track moments for some drivers, including Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi. But even F1 debutant Jerome d’Ambrosio stayed out of trouble in his Virgin.

Webber snatched the fastest time with his last lap of the session, demoting Michael Schumacher from the top spot. The Mercedes driver logged 24 laps in his first session at Singapore.

Adrian Sutil moved up to third late in the session ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Jaime Alguersuari.

Felipe Massa was the only driver from the top three teams to go out early in the session when the track was at its wettest. His best time of 1’57.760 was set on intermediates while most other drivers used slicks for their final runs once the track had become dry enough.

Pos.	Car	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1’54.589		10
2	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1’54.708	0.119	24
3	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1’54.827	0.238	15
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1’55.137	0.548	12
5	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’55.160	0.571	20
6	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1’55.333	0.744	12
7	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1’55.510	0.921	15
8	16	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’55.523	0.934	15
9	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	1’55.672	1.083	11
10	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1’55.914	1.325	20
11	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’56.090	1.501	12
12	23	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1’56.339	1.750	22
13	22	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Ferrari	1’56.458	1.869	18
14	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’56.598	2.009	8
15	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1’56.603	2.014	12
16	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1’56.615	2.026	17
17	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1’56.840	2.251	14
18	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1’56.884	2.295	9
19	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’57.760	3.171	22
20	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1’59.034	4.445	19
21	25	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	1’59.275	4.686	16
22	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	1’59.783	5.194	23
23	20	Christian Klien	HRT-Cosworth	2’03.424	8.835	17
24	18	Fairuz Fauzy	Lotus-Cosworth	2’05.694	11.105	11

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28 comments on Webber leads damp Singapore practice

Hamish said on 24th September 2010, 12:38

Thats suprising from d’Ambrosio. Good on him.

- Vico said on 24th September 2010, 14:27
  
  How nice that anyone noticed his fine debut drive! He’s never driven the car before, nor the track, so only being 0.2 sec down on Glock is really impressive.
  
  I was happy to see Klien back, but don’t understand why Karun didn’t get his seat back. So it’s safe to say he can go and look for another team…
  
  - BasCB said on 24th September 2010, 16:14
    
    I also think d’Ambrosio did a solid job there. I suppose Glock has been doing most of the test work though.
    
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 24th September 2010, 12:39

It is still to early to gain any understanding of who is genuinely quick, but I hope Mark can stay at that end of the field.

Reply Report user
Andy said on 24th September 2010, 12:45

Webber half a second up on Vettel, looks promising for the Aussie. Just got to hope Seb doesn’t break his front wing ;)

- Andy W said on 24th September 2010, 13:27
  
  The real question is what will happen if Mark breaks ‘his’ will they give him Sebs…
  
gwenouille said on 24th September 2010, 12:46

What’s with Hamilton ?

- Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 24th September 2010, 12:49
  
  Not necessarily anything wrong – he only did a few laps at the end of the session and there was a lot of traffic. McLaren were testing new wings so he might not have been pushing for lap times to get the necessary data. Ditto Ferrari.
  
  - Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 24th September 2010, 13:02
    
    And teams often stack development programs so that drivers share duties. Whatever Hamilton ran in FP1 will probably be mirrored by Button in FP2 and vice versa. By the time FP3 comes around, the teams will have enough data for the drivers to form their own setups.
    
    Reply Report user
Serifo said on 24th September 2010, 13:06

Interesting to see Massa collecting data for ferrari while Alonso was sitting in the garage ! I guess from all the championship contenders , ferrari is in unique position of sending one of the drivers for a long runs in treacherous conditions.

- Andy W said on 24th September 2010, 13:31
  
  It might also have something to do with how much engine mileage each driver has left for the remaining sessions and races. If Alonso is looking squeaky they might have just decided to save them when the track was far from ideal.
  
  - Mike said on 24th September 2010, 14:28
    
    I’m not sure Massa is exactly in a better position…
    
    - BasCB said on 24th September 2010, 16:15
      
      I think he is a bit better with it, as his engine did not blow up in Malaysia.
      
polishboy808 said on 24th September 2010, 13:08

Heiki in 15th? YES!!!!!!!

Sat said on 24th September 2010, 13:10

I know this session means nothing but very happy to see MSC:). he will surely surprise everyone If he pulls out a similar result in FP2.

- BasCB said on 24th September 2010, 16:16
  
  Looked like he learnt the track pretty fast there. I hope to see some nice driving from him this weekend.
  
Ayo said on 24th September 2010, 13:11

Massa’s job this week is to run into Webber.

- Gill said on 24th September 2010, 13:59
  
  He he…… u missed Ham…
  Massa’s job is to run into Ham and webber.
  
  IN the next race, Webber, Ham and Button.
  
  IN the next Vettel ll be added to this list.. :)
  
  Pun intended
  
Alex Bkk said on 24th September 2010, 13:12

Keith I’m not sure that “but despite treacherous conditions” and the headline of “Webber leads damp Singapore practice” really go together. Then again this is Asia and anything goes. ;)

Electrolite said on 24th September 2010, 13:19

Heidfeld is already matching De La Rosa’s job of being right next to Kamui on the timesheets after one practice session! Good for Nick.

- BasCB said on 24th September 2010, 16:18
  
  Consistent but not very fast. Only if you look at the fastest lap, if you look at sector times, Kobayasih did some sectors that were very impressive (optimum lap over a second in front).
  
  And Nick knows the track, where Kamui saw it for the first time.
  
  - Steph (@) said on 24th September 2010, 16:28
    
    Nick is back in a new car with new tyres though so I expect Kamui to be ahead for the rest of the season
    
roberttty said on 24th September 2010, 13:25

Keith

I will at Turn 1 Grandstands later.

My twitter id will be @tien_yew but won’t be tweeting much. You can follow @asiaonemotoring – he tweets better!

cheers!
roberttty

James said on 24th September 2010, 13:26

I have high hopes for Schumacher this weekend, it’s the type of track he goes well at. Schumacher was brilliant in Monaco and Montreal, and I’m sure he’ll pull out the moves in Singapore too

Byron R said on 24th September 2010, 13:40

Could we be seeing engine limit rules starting to make a difference in practice with the front runners. Mercedes team still has the advantage of fresh engines, maybe if the other teams have to be conservative they can elevate themselves.

Go Schumy!

- James said on 24th September 2010, 14:02
  
  The works Renault team have a pretty impressive advantage over the other teams as well, Kubica might have a real chance of stealing some big points from the top 5, even a race win in the closing stages of this season!
  
- BasCB said on 24th September 2010, 16:19
  
  I do think that was wat you saw at Ferrari with Alonso doing only a few laps.
  
wasiF1 said on 24th September 2010, 16:15

That lap time by Schumacher was something especial.