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
Jelle van der Meer (@jelle-van-der-meer) said on 8th April 2011, 5:27
Looking at the actual sector times and ultimate lap (best sector times together) Vettel is ranked 4th after Webber, Lewis and Michael. Webber in 1.37 and other 3 in 1.39 the rest of the field is 1.40 or higher
Webber is fasted on all sectors but sector 2 he really dominates with closest rival Vettel being 0.6 seconds off and nearest non Red Bull 0.8 seconds.
Vettel only bad sector is sector 3
SeattleChris said on 8th April 2011, 5:40
Oh, BTW… how many Europeans were on speedtv watching the practice online? I’ll bet a lot were. I just want to point it out for all those silly nanny’s who were complaining about American’s “stealing” their bandwidth and hard earned money. For the record, it costs Americans money too, but we’re not complaining about it. I truly hope you enjoyed the sounds and the practice. Its ridiculous to have those with terrible perspectives commenting that only they should get to see a sport we all enjoy. Besides, someone over on your side of the pond is airing it… who wouldn’t watch what they want if they can?
Aussie Fan said on 8th April 2011, 8:43
What on earth are you going on about buddy?? Lots of European sites stream practice live too, did you really think only speed tv broadcasts it??? Lol…..get off your soapbox Captain America hahaha.
SeattleChris said on 9th April 2011, 3:17
Regardless, the point is just that it was available for the world – I’m certainly not on any soapbox, and I believe if you actually read what I posted it is in fact obvious that I was “going on about” others who previously soapboxed about this topic.
Just pent up feelings towards those who wouldn’t share if given the choice I guess. Sorry to put you off mate.
bienc (@bienc) said on 8th April 2011, 6:20
Onboard video of Petrov’s brake failure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGPNVYoh1EY&feature=feedu
Dave Blanc said on 8th April 2011, 6:49
Wow. That must have scared the cr$p out of Petrov.
Nick said on 8th April 2011, 6:30
Not sure how you can bag Ricciardo ‘Prisoner Monkeys’ or whatever your name is (not sure who would call themselves that but anyway). You obviously do not follow his times and efforts close enough to realise what a talent he actually is but you attire yourself as this big F1 fan, getting into the grime of the discussion and now you are just putting him down because you don’t ‘like’ him – come on mate grow up, you are making everyone sick to death of your useless input and low base level of knowledge on the matters at hand.
vickyy (@vickyy) said on 8th April 2011, 6:51
Relax. Don’t be that harsh, if he doesn’t like him so he doesn’t like him, its his opinion.
Every opinion demands some respect.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 8th April 2011, 7:17
Sounds like really scary stuff for Heidfeld :(
Sounds about right for HRT.
Solo (@solo) said on 8th April 2011, 16:16
Don’t know what’s going on but i can’t see the article about practice 2. I always get redirected here.
Shomir said on 8th April 2011, 16:41
There seems to be an error in the mobile version that redirects me to this page instead after clicking the FP2 link
Dizzy-A (@david-a) said on 8th April 2011, 16:56
And it’s not just the mobile version.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 8th April 2011, 17:00
Looks like a cache glitch – have cleared it now, seems OK.