Webber fastest by 1.6 seconds in first practice
2011 Malaysian GP first practice
Mark Webber, Red Bull, Sepang, 2011
Mark Webber was the fastest driver in the first practice session for the second weekend in a row.
The Red Bull driver was fastest for most of the session, before dramatically lowering his time to a 1’37.651, putting him over a second and a half faster than anyone else.
Lewis Hamilton was second fastest for McLaren with Michael Schumacher third.
A late improvement by Nico Hülkenberg put the Force India driver fourth ahead of Pastor Maldonado.
Ferrari had a quiet session and spent much of it with their drivers running at fixed speeds on the straights for aerodynamics testing. Felipe Massa ended the session sixth with Fernando Alonso ninth.
Alonso was one of several drivers to run wide at turn eight. Sergio Perez also skidded wide at the corner.
Narain Karthikeyan’s participation in the session came to an early halt as a plume of smoke erupted from the back of his HRT as he left the pits. He eventually came to a stop just after turn four.
Renault driver Nick Heidfeld also hit trouble when his front-right brake locked solid shortly after he’d set the fastest time of the session.
He had to drive the R31 back to the with only three wheels rotating for an entire lap, by the end of which a huge chunk of the tyre had worn away and sparks and smoke were coming from the underside of the car.
Team mate Vitaly Petrov also had problems, spending most of the session in the garage after his installation lap. Once he did join the track he suffered a failure on the front-left corner which sent him spinning into the gravel trap at turn nine.
Late in the session Jerome d’Ambrosio suffered a similar failure at the front-right of his car. The wheel came off entirely, sending him into the gravel trap at the final corner.
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’37.651 | 22 | |
| 2 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’39.316 | 1.665 | 16 |
| 3 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’39.791 | 2.140 | 29 |
| 4 | 15 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’40.377 | 2.726 | 23 |
| 5 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1’40.443 | 2.792 | 31 |
| 6 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’40.453 | 2.802 | 22 |
| 7 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1’40.525 | 2.874 | 6 |
| 8 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1’40.581 | 2.930 | 21 |
| 9 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’40.601 | 2.950 | 23 |
| 10 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’40.646 | 2.995 | 29 |
| 11 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1’40.734 | 3.083 | 21 |
| 12 | 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’40.748 | 3.097 | 23 |
| 13 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’40.770 | 3.119 | 24 |
| 14 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.872 | 3.221 | 27 |
| 15 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’40.927 | 3.276 | 16 |
| 16 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1’41.620 | 3.969 | 21 |
| 17 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’41.627 | 3.976 | 18 |
| 18 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.642 | 3.991 | 24 |
| 19 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’42.154 | 4.503 | 18 |
| 20 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1’42.540 | 4.889 | 20 |
| 21 | 20 | Davide Valsecchi | Lotus-Renault | 1’44.054 | 6.403 | 18 |
| 22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1’45.228 | 7.577 | 20 |
| 23 | 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1’46.267 | 8.616 | 10 |
| 24 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1’47.932 | 10.281 | 4 |
2011 Malaysian Grand Prix
- Hamilton says Sepang driving “didn’t put anyone in danger”
- Domenicali praises Massa’s “return to form” in Malaysia
- 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
- Who was the best driver of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend?
- Red Bull stay ahead but KERS is still a weakness
- Ferrari on form in race after poor qualifying
- Hamilton called for his extra tyre stop at McLaren
- Renault recover from Friday drama for podium
- Schumacher scores for struggling Mercedes
- Two more retirements “not acceptable” at Williams
Browse all 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix articles
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
djdaveyp85 (@djdaveyp87) said on 8th April 2011, 4:40
The new double wheel tethers seem to be doing their job!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 8th April 2011, 7:14
He’s done a Buemi!
Jay said on 8th April 2011, 4:43
Ferrari better hope that thier aerodynamic evaluation will bring them closer to red bull.
Hope FP2 will be a more realistic representation of the true pace of the others
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 8th April 2011, 4:43
d’Ambrosio’s failure was very similar to Raikkonen’s at the Nurburgring in 2005. I wonder if he had a flat spot, too?
BasCB (@bascb) said on 8th April 2011, 6:10
Seems he had a suspension failure, acc. to Will Buxton.
Dave Blanc said on 8th April 2011, 4:44
I missed the session. Anyone know why there is such a big between Webber/Vettel and Butto/Hamilton? Were they running different programmes/tyres?
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 8th April 2011, 4:46
I’d imagine so. Although I couldn’t tell which tyres they were all running with my low quality video feed because of the silly colouring system they have this year. :(
anto the irish said on 8th April 2011, 4:44
vetel doing a full fuel setup run on a friday?
Eggry (@eggry) said on 8th April 2011, 4:48
actually, he didn’t run many laps.
Eggry (@eggry) said on 8th April 2011, 4:45
I hope this is not true pace.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 8th April 2011, 4:52
It’s not. Everyone is running their own programs at the moment. True pace won’t be seen until FP3, as always.
Eggry (@eggry) said on 8th April 2011, 4:54
I know it. but there’s always some order. I wish Redbull is not 1.5s faster than the best of the rest.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 8th April 2011, 5:01
But it’s only FP1. You can’t read too much into the times because the times don’t mean anything.
Eggry (@eggry) said on 8th April 2011, 5:05
I’m just being worried.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 8th April 2011, 5:08
Well, you have no reason to be.
dragon said on 8th April 2011, 4:53
I hope it is ;)
Eggry (@eggry) said on 8th April 2011, 4:55
One good thing of this time sheet is that Vettel is not good :P
HxCas said on 8th April 2011, 6:09
that will be purely because he wasn’t going for lap times, wait until FP3 or qualy and he will be back at the top
dragon said on 8th April 2011, 4:51
I know it goes largely unnoticed, but as an Aussie I follow Ricciardo’s times closely – and so far, both times he’s been given the car he’s been pretty impressive, both against his STR teammates and the rest of the field. I know that FP1 means next to nothing in the long run, but it’s still good to see. Here’s hoping an F1 seat becomes available to him in the not too distant future, another Aussie to continue flying the flag in the sport!
Dave Blanc said on 8th April 2011, 4:56
Agree. I think we’ll see him in the race car later in the season at this rate.
DARREN said on 8th April 2011, 4:59
I agree Ricciardo has never put a foot wrong with his f1 car efforts.
Eggry (@eggry) said on 8th April 2011, 5:03
Yup, another jewel of Redbull young driver programm.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 8th April 2011, 5:10
Ugh, I’m sick of hearing about Ricciardo. Call me when he actually does something impressive.
Dave Blanc said on 8th April 2011, 5:22
OK Mr Monkey.
Andrew G said on 8th April 2011, 6:20
I think people are sick of you bagging Ricciardo. If you don’t like the comments then just skip over them. Relax.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 8th April 2011, 7:22
It’s not the comments, it’s the hype. I swear, some people would get excited over a shot of Ricciardo sitting in a chair.
dragon said on 8th April 2011, 10:40
What’s not impressive about posting FP times that match the STR drivers? I wasn’t aware of any hype either, I’m just going by what I see, thankyou.
I’m glad I don’t share your pessimistic view of all things Australian…
Meander said on 8th April 2011, 10:57
I’m not part of the Ricciardo hype, but still I think you’ll be eating those words not too long from now, PM.
Elliotstan said on 8th April 2011, 5:27
I think Ricciardo is doing all he can. As long as he keeps up the pressure and puts in as much effort as he can I have no doubt he will have a seat by the end of the year. Probably get to race one or two at the end.
Rocky said on 8th April 2011, 4:53
Vettel looked a bit concerned getting out of his car maybe this is webbers race…
Dane said on 8th April 2011, 5:04
Maybe he was in Webbers car? :)
Oliver said on 8th April 2011, 5:10
Maybe you’ll win the lottery.
Elliotstan said on 8th April 2011, 5:30
Big thing is that Webber only did a few more laps than Vettel. I thought maybe he was holding back though. Just waiting to try and get two fast ones in at the end. I think Vettel has more to show. The yellow near the end (2nd last min) might have just ruined his rhythm though.
Snobeck said on 8th April 2011, 14:43
Webber has often been very very good at Sepang. It wouldn’t surprise me if he has an edge over Seb this weekend.
DARREN said on 8th April 2011, 5:03
I think Webber is anxious to show it was the car and not the driver in Melbourne.
Jarred Walmsley (@jarred-walmsley) said on 8th April 2011, 5:08
Looks like Luizzi was right about qualifying as the two HRT’s are well within the 107% rule with the slowest of the two drivers Karthikeyan doing 1’46.267 with Webber doing the 1’37.651, which would make the 107% time 1’47.287 so the only driver not in the time is Petrov due to his crash. And the deal with Mercedes for the wind tunnel use should ensure the HRT stays in there.
KaIIe (@kaiie) said on 8th April 2011, 5:19
But the top teams should do 1:35s easily in Q1. That would mean that 107% is around 1:41. Can’t see HRT finding that much time.
Argent said on 8th April 2011, 5:20
I think that you may need to check your math–it looks like you didn’t covert the lap time to seconds before multiplying.
If you are using Webber’s fastest lap of 1’37.651 to calculate par, then the 107% time would be 1’44.487. Both HRTs would be the only ones out again. Also, it’s quite likely that Renault would get a free pass from the FIA to race, as their other car held a time well within the 107% margin.
Jarred Walmsley (@jarred-walmsley) said on 8th April 2011, 9:06
Ah, yes you’re right, I forgot to convert to seconds, my bad
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 8th April 2011, 5:31
Argent’s 107% time is correct (1.07*97.651=104.487) and both HRTs would be outside of it. Virgin looking surprisingly comfortable though.
dim23 (@dim23) said on 8th April 2011, 5:34
I meant Jarred’s time :)
Jelle van der Meer (@jelle-van-der-meer) said on 8th April 2011, 5:34
The 107% time is 1’44.487 so based on that both HRT and Petrov are outside that limit.
Based on last year’s fastest time of 1’33.542 (FP3 as rainy qualifying) the 107% time would be 1’40.090 which would mean all but top 3 would not qualify based on FP1 times
Also to mention that last year best time in FP1 was 1’34.921 by Lewis so Webber is still a good 2.7 seconds away from that.
SeattleChris said on 8th April 2011, 5:35
The RBR’s are going to drop many seconds come qualifying. I doubt they will legally make it in this race, but I’ll bet the stewards will allow them in because they’ve missed one race already and its not good for the sport if the rules keep a team out of every race.
Jelle van der Meer (@jelle-van-der-meer) said on 8th April 2011, 5:42
Here comes the interesting question – on narrower circuits like Monaco will Red Bull put in a very quick Q1 lap to try to disqualify the slower teams or not.
Is it an advantage or disadvantage for the fastest team(s) to have the slower teams outside the 107% margin.
Today’s 107% margin is less though as it used to be as today it is calculated on Q1 times while previous it was based on pole time.
Gaston said on 8th April 2011, 21:10
That’s indeed quite interesting. But then the question comes of who would “take one for the team” and do a Q3-like run in Q1 in order to put the 107% margin as high as possible.
dim23 (@dim23) said on 8th April 2011, 5:10
Vettel was testing Kers for sure, but did Webber had Kers on his car? Anyone knows?
Emile said on 8th April 2011, 5:12
Go Massa!
Oliver said on 8th April 2011, 5:20
I hoped HRT would have done longer runs. As things stand, they will need to find another 5 – 6 seconds to feel safe.
Oliver said on 8th April 2011, 5:26
Are you sure you are doing your maths right? At 1:40.00 dead, 107% is 1:47.00. So they are are well out of it since webber did a 1:37.65.
Burnout said on 8th April 2011, 5:27
Did anybody use Pirelli’s experimental tyres this session? Would that explain some of the “discrepancies” in the times set?
Also, it’s nice to see Trulli doing better than just the Virgin and HRT cars.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 8th April 2011, 5:31
Yes they were being used quite a lot from what I saw.