Webber edges Raikkonen in first Friday practice

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix first practice

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Red Bull headed the times sheets in first practice for the second weekend in a row.

But this time it was Mark Webber rather than his team mate who led the way.

As in Melbourne the session got off to a quiet start. Once the drivers had completed they installation laps hardly anyone ventured out onto the track for the next half an hour.

After Max Chilton the second driver to set a time was Sergio Perez, the early appearance of the McLaren on track an indication of the work the team have to do to sort out the problematic MP4-28.

Jenson Button joined his team mate on the track shortly afterwards but his run was cut short by a right-rear puncture.

Within a few minutes the track was busy and the the Red Bulls took to the top of the times, Webber being the only driver to lap the circuit in less than 97 seconds.

Sebastian Vettel initially took up second behind him until Kimi Raikkonen split their pair of RB9s. The winner of the Australian Grand Prix had a disrupted start to the session – a KERS problem meant he was the last driver to set a time.

Force India also ran into trouble as Adrian Sutil experienced a front-right wing failure after running over a kerb. Later in the session his engineer attempted to warn him to stay off the kerbs, which Sutil misheard as an instruction not to use KERS.

Esteban Gutierrez had a spin in the Sauber when he came across Felipe Massa at turn, but didn’t hit anything. Fernando Alonso was the quickest of the two Ferraris in fourth place after locking up and going off at turn one.

The lap times dropped off sharply towards the end of the session as drivers increasingly struggled to post improvements on their increasingly worn tyres. Hamilton reported his rears were finished after 18 laps.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
12Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’36.93515
27Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’37.0030.06815
31Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’37.1040.16921
43Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’37.3190.38413
59Nico RosbergMercedes1’37.5880.65319
615Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’37.7690.83417
74Felipe MassaFerrari1’37.7710.83615
814Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’37.7730.83815
910Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’37.8400.90518
108Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’37.9150.98017
115Jenson ButtonMcLaren1’38.1731.23816
1216Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’38.6731.73816
136Sergio PerezMcLaren1’38.8301.89517
1411Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’39.0542.11917
1512Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’39.2042.26916
1617Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’39.2082.27319
1718Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’39.2842.34917
1819Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’39.5672.63216
1921Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’40.7283.79317
2022Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’40.9964.06114
2120Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’41.1634.22818
2223Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’41.5134.57818

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Webber edges Raikkonen in first Friday practice”

  1. Something fishy about that Redbull…

    1. What happened?

    2. Please do elaborate!

    3. creative engine mapping? holes/slots? webbers kers?

    4. MB (@muralibhats)
      22nd March 2013, 5:07

      Yes. Webber is Sandbagging. :)

  2. If its dry it looks like we could be in for yet another ‘race’ full of drivers driving slowly to save tyres :(

    So with that a 2 DRS zones it looks like i will be turning off early.

  3. Lotus Looks good..i’m having a good feeling..rain or shine…

    1. Either that, or simply Raikkonen looks good…

  4. Half a second between Felipe and Fernando. I know it is just 1st practice, but still..

    1. 0.9 between Raikkonen and Grosjean…

  5. I wonder how Hulkenberg feels about his move to Sauber at the moment.

    1. MB (@muralibhats)
      22nd March 2013, 5:09

      like jumping from a frying pan to boiling oil.

      Still a long season.

    2. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
      22nd March 2013, 5:16

      me too. I don’t expect Force India to be that quick even after their major facility upgrade. Sauber is a bit concern for me as they radically change the concept (ex: tiny sidepod). while I’m sure McLaren will bounce back rather quickly, I doubt the same would happen in Sauber.

    3. @muralibhats It is a long season and things can change but, as @adityafakhri points out, it is less likely for Sauber to bounce back after starting on the wrong foot.

      I’m not the biggest Hulk fan myself, but I think a lot of people wanted to see him really emerge as a challenger this season. With Sauber this far off the pace, it is seeming less and less likely that we will see him competing for podiums.

    4. I think he sees it as a step closer to Ferrari to be honest. And I don’t think Sauber are doing that bad really.

    5. Was it down to results? I seriously doubt it, therefore I think he must not worry that much about it.

  6. Whats up with Perez?…

  7. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
    22nd March 2013, 5:19

    I suspect it just a matter of finding setup for qualifying, not in longer run as Red Bull leading again, and Raikkonen closely followed after problems and set the time latter in the session. Better picture as always will be in FP2.

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