Today’s washout during practice means there’s little useful data to look at.
However the limited running done during the two wet sessions has had an effect on at least one of the team’s plans for this weekend.
Lotus technical director James Allison revealed they will not use their new Double DRS – referred to by the team as the ‘device’ – in the third practice session tomorrow. That means it is unlikely to be seen in the rest of the weekend.
“Today’s rain also prevented us from seeing how the ‘Device’ would perform in the expected race conditions.
“With discretion being the better part of valour we will conduct third practice tomorrow with a conventional aero package rather than attempting to squeeze Friday’s intended evaluation into the precious final practice session.”
Romain Grosjean said: “It’s a big shame we couldn’t do much running today as it was so wet. I was really looking forward to trying the famous ‘Device’ for the first time, but I guess I’ll have to wait.”
In very wet conditions some part of the track proved more treacherous than others, as Jenson Button explained: “For most of the lap, you’re not really pushing – then, halfway down the Kemmel straight, it suddenly gets wetter.
“It’s a different type of asphalt, which doesn’t drain as well. As soon as you hit that, you feel the car slow down and then it starts to spin its wheels.”
Here’s some of the data from today’s two practice sessions:
Sector times and ultimate lap times – first practice
Car | Driver | Car | Sector 1 | Sector 2 | Sector 3 | Ultimate lap | Gap | Deficit to best | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 35.672 | 60.975 | 34.339 | 2’10.986 | 0.403 | |
2 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 35.658 | 61.237 | 34.655 | 2’11.550 | 0.564 | 0.391 |
3 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 35.877 | 61.504 | 34.377 | 2’11.758 | 0.772 | 0.246 |
4 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 35.678 | 61.782 | 34.712 | 2’12.172 | 1.186 | 0.652 |
5 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 35.974 | 62.112 | 34.751 | 2’12.837 | 1.851 | 1.024 |
6 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 36.038 | 62.433 | 34.603 | 2’13.074 | 2.088 | 0.117 |
7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 35.992 | 63.317 | 34.716 | 2’14.025 | 3.039 | 0.185 |
8 | 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 35.888 | 63.202 | 35.248 | 2’14.338 | 3.352 | 0.322 |
9 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 36.380 | 63.168 | 35.183 | 2’14.731 | 3.745 | 0.671 |
10 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 36.216 | 63.263 | 35.381 | 2’14.860 | 3.874 | 0.000 |
11 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 36.073 | 64.039 | 35.445 | 2’15.557 | 4.571 | 0.255 |
12 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 36.863 | 63.608 | 35.311 | 2’15.782 | 4.796 | 0.627 |
13 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 36.889 | 64.050 | 34.982 | 2’15.921 | 4.935 | 0.865 |
14 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 36.346 | 64.388 | 35.762 | 2’16.496 | 5.510 | 0.292 |
15 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 36.355 | 64.010 | 36.305 | 2’16.670 | 5.684 | 0.191 |
16 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 36.879 | 64.075 | 35.873 | 2’16.827 | 5.841 | 0.000 |
17 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 36.850 | 64.592 | 35.778 | 2’17.220 | 6.234 | 0.299 |
18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 36.876 | 64.976 | 36.347 | 2’18.199 | 7.213 | 0.000 |
19 | 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 37.155 | 62.619 | 39.016 | 2’18.790 | 7.804 | 4.571 |
20 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 38.067 | 63.730 | 37.090 | 2’18.887 | 7.901 | 19.814 |
21 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 37.079 | 65.764 | 36.306 | 2’19.149 | 8.163 | 0.397 |
22 | 23 | Dani Clos | HRT-Cosworth | 37.190 | 65.869 | 36.304 | 2’19.363 | 8.377 | 0.326 |
23 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 40.144 | 67.094 | 41.715 | 2’28.953 | 17.967 | 11.796 |
Complete practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | Total laps | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 2’11.389 | 2’53.232 | 24 | ||
2 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 2’11.941 | 2’51.660 | 18 | ||
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 2’12.004 | 2’49.750 | 15 | ||
4 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 2’12.824 | 2’58.232 | 18 | ||
5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 2’13.191 | 13 | |||
6 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 2’13.861 | 3’12.901 | 20 | ||
7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 2’14.210 | 17 | |||
8 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 2’14.660 | 16 | |||
9 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 2’14.860 | 15 | |||
10 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 2’15.402 | 17 | |||
11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 2’15.812 | 2’51.333 | 14 | ||
12 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 2’16.409 | 2’52.076 | 20 | ||
13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 2’16.786 | 2’59.125 | 15 | ||
14 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 2’16.788 | 16 | |||
15 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 2’16.827 | 7 | |||
16 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 2’16.861 | 10 | |||
17 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 2’17.519 | 2’49.354 | 18 | ||
18 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 2’18.199 | 11 | |||
19 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 2’19.546 | 12 | |||
20 | Dani Clos | HRT-Cosworth | 2’19.689 | 12 | |||
21 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 2’38.701 | 9 | |||
22 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 2’40.749 | 2’50.497 | 7 | ||
23 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 2’46.580 | 9 |
Speed trap – first practice
# | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed | Gap | |
1 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 254.5 | |
2 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | Ferrari | 252.9 | 1.6 |
3 | 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | Renault | 249.2 | 5.3 |
4 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | Renault | 247.2 | 7.3 |
5 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | Renault | 245.5 | 9 |
6 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 244.9 | 9.6 |
7 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | Renault | 244.7 | 9.8 |
8 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 243.9 | 10.6 |
9 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | Ferrari | 243.4 | 11.1 |
10 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | Mercedes | 236.8 | 17.7 |
11 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India | Mercedes | 234.8 | 19.7 |
12 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | Mercedes | 233.8 | 20.7 |
13 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 232.1 | 22.4 |
14 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia | Cosworth | 231.5 | 23 |
15 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 230.3 | 24.2 |
16 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia | Cosworth | 229.3 | 25.2 |
17 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | Renault | 229 | 25.5 |
18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | Renault | 227 | 27.5 |
19 | 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | Renault | 224.5 | 30 |
20 | 23 | Dani Clos | HRT | Cosworth | 220.2 | 34.3 |
21 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | Cosworth | 219.2 | 35.3 |
22 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | Mercedes | 218 | 36.5 |
23 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 202.5 | 52 |
24 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Ferrari | 176.4 | 78.1 |
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Image © Lotus F1 Team/LAT
Nick Jarvis (@)
31st August 2012, 18:26
looking forward to seeing it at monza, really hoping Caterham have one secretly planned for that race, too :)
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
31st August 2012, 18:33
@nickj95gb It will no doubt prove more useful at Monza than Spa anyways. Shame, I was looking forward to its debut. Only a week to go I guess!
Nick Jarvis (@)
31st August 2012, 19:34
yeah, it will work really well at monza, it’s basically 1 huge straight with a couple of chicanes :)
caci99 (@)
31st August 2012, 20:35
me too
xeroxpt (@)
31st August 2012, 21:37
Has the “device” been used under racing conditions? I don’t think so, they were very organized they tried to test it early but this rainy conditions in recent practices has spoiled Lotus plans. Another thing that may spoil Lotus chances was Pirellis tyre allocation for the next GPs, I now understand their decision for SPA, nonetheless teams are threatening to go over the limits again which makes me believe, that they perhaps are lying to us, they chose harder tyres because Ferrari and most likely someone else likes them.
William Graham (@sparkformula1)
31st August 2012, 21:54
Very interesting looking at the lap times, but mostly the ‘deficit to best’ times. It would seem that for the most part (bar perhaps Alonso) the best drivers have the lowest deficit. Hamilton and Vettel have none, as does Heikki Kovalainen. I still think he’ll end up in that Ferrari seat.
I’m sure it may be skewed by the fact not much running was done, and the other factors considering the conditions, but it’s interesting to note all the same.
@HoHum (@hohum)
31st August 2012, 22:22
I was thinking of writing a spoof comment complete with predicted race results such as we always see after 1st. practice, but I think your much subtler approach is better and I will leave it to you. :-)
verstappen (@verstappen)
31st August 2012, 22:24
Shame, but maybe they have other ways to cope with lower temps @ lotus
BasCB (@bascb)
1st September 2012, 9:55
Did anyone catch info on Mercedes having tested something quite similar to the Lotus device on their car during the Friday?
davidnotcoulthard
1st September 2012, 10:33
at Melbourne?