Vettel fastest as Alonso hits trouble

Brazilian Grand Prix first practice

November 5, 2010 at 1:32 pm by Keith Collantine

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Interlagos, 2010

Sebastian Vettel was the fastest driver in the first practice session at Interlagos, lapping almost half a second faster than anyone else.

But championship rival Fernando Alonso’s session came to an early end when his Ferrari stopped on the track.

Before the failure Ferrari said they were planning to change Alonso’s engine ahead of the second session anyway. Afterwards they said the engine had expired earlier than expected.

Because the cars are not under parc ferme conditions Alonso will not incur a penalty for the engine change.

Mark Webber made it a Red Bull one-two ahead of the two McLarens.

Robert Kubica set the fifth fastest time but team mate Vitaly Petrov hit trouble once again. He spun at Ferradura and crashed heavily into the barriers.

Another driver to hit trouble at the fast right-hand corner was Kamui Kobayashi, but he didn’t make such heavy contact with the barriers after spinning off.

One driver who had a very quiet session was Timo Glock, who didn’t set a time until the final 20 minutes. He ended up second-fastest of the new teams.

The sixth-fastest time went to Nico Rosberg and it was reported during the session that Mercedes were using the track time to test a 2011-style diffuser.

Pos.	Car	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1’12.328		23
2	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1’12.810	0.482	28
3	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1’12.845	0.517	24
4	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1’13.267	0.939	24
5	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	1’13.370	1.042	24
6	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’13.516	1.188	26
7	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1’13.546	1.218	26
8	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1’13.643	1.315	25
9	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1’13.918	1.590	26
10	22	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Ferrari	1’14.000	1.672	23
11	23	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1’14.004	1.676	23
12	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1’14.155	1.827	29
13	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’14.246	1.918	20
14	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1’14.370	2.042	23
15	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’14.395	2.067	26
16	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1’14.487	2.159	26
17	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’14.618	2.290	30
18	16	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’14.734	2.406	29
19	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	1’15.603	3.275	25
20	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1’15.860	3.532	20
21	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	1’16.057	3.729	26
22	25	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	1’16.707	4.379	28
23	20	Christian Klien	HRT-Cosworth	1’16.839	4.511	18
24	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	1’17.360	5.032	30

2010 Brazilian Grand Prix

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82 comments on Vettel fastest as Alonso hits trouble

Rob said on 5th November 2010, 14:08

Ferrari.
Smoke, Mirrors, Sandbagging.
Hope not. We need a failure.

Derek said on 5th November 2010, 14:16

Hay everyone, I’m looking forward to seeing the F1 qualifying tomorrow on BBC One HD, It will be upscaled to 1080i. Berni is too mean to buy HD Cameras for F1 as it will reduce his profit margin. I read somewhere that he intends to replace one camera per year for HD, as the old ones wear out!

- Ady said on 5th November 2010, 14:28
  
  Up-scaling means nothing. It’s just a waste of pixels & bandwidth.
  
  My TV up-scales an SD signal to my 1080 screen already, absolutely no benefit whatsoever.
  
frank said on 5th November 2010, 14:32

Why did vettel have intermediate on in the end?

- Invoke said on 5th November 2010, 15:02
  
  Sometimes the mechanics use wet weather tyres when they do practise pit stops, I think that was the case here.
  
  - M Sakr said on 5th November 2010, 15:19
    
    Yea that was the case for every race this year.. Saw Mclarens doing the same too
    
Invoke said on 5th November 2010, 15:01

Does anyone understand the clause in the rules regarding engine usage in the final race of the season? Not sure if I have that correct but I have seen it mentioned before and I have never fully understood what it meant.

- DeadManWoking said on 5th November 2010, 15:22
  
  If an engine is changed under parc ferme conditions (after they leave the pits for the 1st time in qualtfying until the start of the race) the one that has been replaced cannot be used again in Qualifying or a Race (it can be used in FP1, FP2 or FP3) until the last Qualy and Race of the year.
  
  - Invoke said on 5th November 2010, 15:58
    
    Thanks for that DeadMan. So this would only occur if a team has decided to swap a working engine for another working engine under parc ferme conditions, with the engine they took out frozen from use until the final round.
    
    Has anyone actually done this, seems like an odd thing to do when you are facing a grid penalty for the swap?
    
    - DeadManWoking said on 5th November 2010, 16:15
      
      There is no grid penalty for the swap as long as you stay within your allotment of 8 engines. See my reply on the previous page:
      
      http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/11/05/vettel-fastest-as-alonso-hits-trouble/comment-page-1/#comment-468267
      
Oracle said on 5th November 2010, 15:09

All teams use an old engine for FP1 and 2.FP 1 and 2 are not classed as part of the event.
For FP3 they use the race engine and it is only if they replace that engine with a new one they receive a penalty.

samuel said on 5th November 2010, 15:44

can somebody enlighten me a bit on how the FIA polices the engine to see if anybody cheats on it i.e. dis-assemble the engine to change the inside stuffs then re-seal it using the same engine cover? can it be done without being detected?

- DeadManWoking said on 5th November 2010, 15:56
  
  http://argent.fia.com/web/fia-public.nsf/65EE8F15945D0941C12576C7005308AE/$FILE/1-2010%20SPORTING%20REGULATIONS%2023-06-2010.pdf
  
  FIA Sporting regulations
  28.4 c) After consultation with the relevant engine supplier the FIA will attach seals to each engine prior to it being used for the first time at an Event in order to ensure that no significant moving parts can be rebuilt or replaced.
  Within two hours of the end of the post race parc fermé exhaust blanking plates (with one 10mm diameter inspection hole per cylinder) and further seals will be applied to all used engines in order to ensure that these engines cannot be run between Events. Upon request to the FIA these additional seals will be removed after the start of initial scrutineering at the next Event at which the engines are required. All such engines must remain within the team’s designated garage area when not fitted to a car and may not be started at any time during an Event other than when fitted to a car eligible to participate in the Event.
  d) If any of the FIA seals are damaged or removed from an engine after it has been used for the first time that engine may not be used again unless they were removed under FIA supervision.
  
  - samuel said on 5th November 2010, 16:23
    
    this is great…thanks mate
    
  - Hairpin said on 5th November 2010, 19:59
    
    I really got to take my hat off to you, keep trying to educate people about the rules, it seems a large majority on here can’t read or understand the regulations, and run off at the mouth at what they think it should be.
    
    Best of luck with it, I gave up some time ago.
    
    - DeadManWoking said on 6th November 2010, 0:47
      
      Wellll, they have more important things on their minds like Vettel’s Finger or Alonso’s Eyebrows. :D
      
itern said on 5th November 2010, 15:52

christein destroyed senna there with less laps