Rain in the first practice session at Istanbul was exactly what the teams testing new parts did not want.
Variable conditions, reduced grip and less downforce mean car upgrades cannot be properly tested.
And Pirelli were not able to see the results of any running on their new development slick tyre.
It also makes reading much into the practice times very difficult. Here’s the data from the first practice session in Istanbul:
Longest stint comparison
https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
Sebastian Vettel | 104.954 | |||||||||
Mark Webber | 103.365 | 102.564 | ||||||||
Lewis Hamilton | ||||||||||
Jenson Button | 120.666 | |||||||||
Fernando Alonso | 102.474 | 100.897 | ||||||||
Felipe Massa | 122.142 | 131.293 | 114.333 | |||||||
Michael Schumacher | 100.33 | 101.031 | 100.962 | 103.812 | 100.974 | 111.111 | 122.686 | 100.132 | 123.755 | |
Nico Rosberg | 104.246 | 101.014 | 112.11 | 100.089 | 124.135 | |||||
Nick Heidfeld | 107.1 | 120.737 | ||||||||
Vitaly Petrov | 105.992 | 135.877 | ||||||||
Rubens Barrichello | 107.135 | 103.913 | ||||||||
Pastor Maldonado | 119.071 | 102.597 | 104.36 | 103.511 | ||||||
Nico Hulkenberg | 104.523 | 109.701 | 107.68 | 102.855 | 123.592 | |||||
Paul di Resta | 105.709 | 104.265 | 103.847 | |||||||
Kamui Kobayashi | 104.576 | 105.628 | 107.355 | 126.95 | ||||||
Sergio Perez | 115.791 | |||||||||
Sebastien Buemi | 105.308 | 105.089 | 105.517 | 105.455 | 105.119 | 104.913 | 108.658 | 104.212 | 105.134 | 137.184 |
Daniel Ricciardo | 109.573 | 103.392 | 102.435 | 101.52 | 101.814 | 102.096 | ||||
Karun Chandhok | 111.676 | 118.969 | 133.319 | |||||||
Jarno Trulli | 105.297 | 103.986 | 136.622 | |||||||
Narain Karthikeyan | 108.461 | 113.96 | 114.542 | 110.685 | ||||||
Vitantonio Liuzzi | 106.155 | 107.284 | 106.51 | 106.271 | ||||||
Timo Glock | 107.421 | 121.242 | ||||||||
Jerome d’Ambrosio | 109.518 | 107.429 |
Speed trap
# | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed | Gap | |
1 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 295.5 | |
2 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 289.2 | 6.3 |
3 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India | Mercedes | 287.9 | 7.6 |
4 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | Mercedes | 287.7 | 7.8 |
5 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 287.6 | 7.9 |
6 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | Ferrari | 286.7 | 8.8 |
7 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 286.2 | 9.3 |
8 | 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | Mercedes | 283.9 | 11.6 |
9 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | Ferrari | 283.3 | 12.2 |
10 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Ferrari | 281.6 | 13.9 |
11 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | Renault | 278.9 | 16.6 |
12 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | Renault | 275.2 | 20.3 |
13 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | Cosworth | 272.1 | 23.4 |
14 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | Renault | 269.3 | 26.2 |
15 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin | Cosworth | 268.7 | 26.8 |
16 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT | Cosworth | 267.9 | 27.6 |
17 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus | Renault | 258.2 | 37.3 |
18 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin | Cosworth | 255.9 | 39.6 |
19 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 255.1 | 40.4 |
20 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | Cosworth | 246 | 49.5 |
21 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 240.9 | 54.6 |
22 | 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | Cosworth | 238.1 | 57.4 |
23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus | Renault | 223.9 | 71.6 |
24 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | Mercedes | 181.2 | 114.3 |
Complete practice times
2011 Turkish Grand Prix
Bäremans
6th May 2011, 11:01
The 2 teams at the front hardly doing any running…
Vettel crashed. Hamilton is said to have a clutch problem.
But what about Webber and Button?
infy (@infy)
6th May 2011, 11:04
Saving their wet tyres for the race perhaps?
RIISE (@riise)
6th May 2011, 11:24
Indeed, if this is going to be full wet race all the way through those tyres are going to be so valuable, coming into the pits for the 4th set that have wear could be very costly.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th May 2011, 16:52
I guess there was not that much they could have learnt. Makes the Vettel spin even more of a bitter thing for him.
But if the racs offers a bit of wet running, or just has the threat of it that might be a nice twist to the weekend.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
6th May 2011, 11:04
Was a pretty boring FP session to be honest. I was very surprised that more teams didn’t go out to sample the wet tyres.
I would imagine that this afternoons times won’t be particularly representative as its a drying track too.
Mike
6th May 2011, 11:09
I suspect that will see Hulkenburg out perform Di Resta many times this year.
Of course, it’s still early, so I could be wrong.
I just think Hulkenburg deserves a race seat.
Torg
6th May 2011, 11:28
Its not like Di Resta has had a bad start to the season though!!
topdowntoedown (@topdowntoedown)
6th May 2011, 11:55
Sutil’s career appears to be stalling in a Trulli-esque fashion. I have to say Di Resta and Hulkenberg is a more exciting driver line up than the current one…
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
6th May 2011, 21:58
Too right it is. Sutil hasn’t excited me since 2009.
Todfod (@todfod)
6th May 2011, 12:00
I think you are reading way too much into a friday test time. Di Resta has matched Sutil pretty comfortably in quali and the races so far, and I cant say that Hulkenberg would be able to do the same. Hulk does deserve a drive soon, but I think DiResta deserves to show what hes got before people start saying that the Hulk deserves that seat.
Fixy (@)
6th May 2011, 14:00
I’m more and more a Hulkenberg fan, and Ricciardo is surprising too.
RIISE (@riise)
6th May 2011, 11:31
Fernando was going some on that straight, bit dicey doing that in those conditions.
Shomir
6th May 2011, 11:32
Liuzzi did the 2nd most laps out of anyone and managed to beat the Virgins and a Lotus.
Really hope those updates work, maybe the HRT is just good in rain like the STR in 2008?
matt90 (@matt90)
6th May 2011, 11:55
Hi Keith. When will IE9 be supported?
Eggry (@eggry)
6th May 2011, 17:22
+1
pakkalo
6th May 2011, 17:27
hadn’t seen the graphs don’t display in IE9 ‘native’: use the Compatibility View (“broken file” icon to the right of the place you type the address) to correct.
pakkalo
6th May 2011, 17:24
What’s wrong with IE9 ? using it right now to write this comment.
pakkalo
6th May 2011, 17:28
sry misplaced reply attempt… see previous post.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
6th May 2011, 22:00
Looks like a really good session from Buemi. Good top speed, decent fastest lap and probably the most consistent throughout the session.