Round 03 - China: FP1 & FP2

Practice 1

Number of Laps: 16
Fastest Lap: 1:41.231
Classification: 9th

1:45.735
1:43.451
1:42.155
1:44.992
1:42.354
1.47.933
-Pit-
1:47.287
1:49.261
1:41.231
1:41.727
1:43.469
1:41.857
1:52.762

Practice 2

Number of Laps: 31
Fastest Lap: 1:38.859
Classification: 9th


1:48.244
1:41.866
1:50.506
1:41.117
1:53.711
-Pit-
1:40.622
1:46.389
1:41.611
1:41.379
1:56.883
-Pit-
1:43.092
1:41.008
1:47.577
-Pit-
1:38.938
1:57.939
1:38.859
1:48.006
-Pit-
1:45.796
1:45.563
1:45.350
1:45.501
1:46.413
1:44.666
1:45.051
1:46.274
1:54.333
 
I think if I'd told you that one of the Renault drivers would make two mistakes during Fridays running and the other would be safe and consistent, you may have believed me but not if I'd also told you which one was which. With plenty of drivers making mistakes across the circuit, Heidfeld isn't entirely blameworthy but in his respectable fashion, he only holds himself to blame.
In general the Renault drivers both seemed to do ok today but while Nick looks like he could trade times with at least the Ferrari's, he'd struggle to be satisfied if in doing so he go for another off-track excursion. On the other hand, we still haven't really seen the Vitaly of Melbourne, he may be just holding back, consciously or unconsciously, after the incident in Malaysia but neither his one lap pace or his race simulation pace show the promise of another podium. This is only practice though and practice that compared to last week, has been available setup time, which can only be a good thing.

Here's what Vitaly had to say about Friday:
“We managed to run the whole way through both sessions, and then we were able to work on some directions for set-up so we’re quite happy with that. I think we need to be happy with today, of course not on the pace and the lap time as we can be quite a bit quicker. What is good is that we don’t have any mechanical problems, we can still continue to work and push hard. The option tyres were a big improvement, as usual, with much more grip.”