Motorsports Mondial
India Grand Prix Friday practice.
Lewis Hamilton takes three place grid penalty.
Bruno Senna : “I enjoyed today. Both LRGP cars were in the positions they should be and the track looks like it could be an ally for our car. We need to develop and extract more from the set-up, but we definitely have potential here. The track is very good, that’s for sure. When I walked it yesterday it was clear it was going to be very dusty, and that was also the case this morning, but it is improving all the time. The corners are very fast and they encourage you to push, push, push so I think we can have a good weekend here. As the grip to improves and the racing line widens we should be able to push even harder!”
Vitaly Petrov : “The track was very dirty which makes it difficult to get the maximum from the car but it’s the same for everyone. We completed today’s programme without any mechanical problems which is always beneficial. I am feeling positive about the car and the set-up; we just need to improve a little but we have potential for a good weekend. The layout of the circuit is quite tricky. On some corners you can’t see the apex which makes it difficult to find your braking point and turning in point. But we’ve found more or less a good line and hopefully we’ll gain some more speed through P3 tomorrow morning before qualifying.”
Lewis Hamilton: I was engaging the DRS when the yellow flags were out and you’re not allowed to,” Hamilton admitted. I went in there and I put my hands up and said I accept whatever penalty they give, and that’s what they gave me. It is what it is and I’m just frustrated with myself,” said Hamilton. “It’s my fault as usual so I just have to do what I can from wherever I qualify tomorrow. It was looking good for us to qualify on pole at one stage. But tomorrow could be a different day. I have no one else to blame, it was only me driving. It’s not good for the weekend, It doesn’t look like we’re the quickest. Wherever we qualify, we’ll be three places back from there, and that’s going to make my race very, very difficult. It’s not impossible, the race will be very long and we have DRS so overtaking is possible. We’ll have to wait and see tomorrow how quick we are. Today was just practice, and tomorrow’s the day when you have to really knuckle down and I’m already on the back foot and have put the team on the back foot with the penalty.”
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.706s 33 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m25.794s + 0.088 34 3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m25.930s + 0.224 34 4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.454s + 0.748 26 5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.500s + 0.794 30 6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m26.714s + 1.008 28 7. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m27.316s + 1.610 34 8. Bruno Senna Renault 1m27.498s + 1.792 36 9. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m27.853s + 2.147 35 10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.868s + 2.162 35 11. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m27.890s + 2.184 37 12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.050s + 2.344 34 13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.289s + 2.583 36 14. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.552s + 2.846 31 15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m28.691s + 2.985 29 16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m28.708s + 3.002 24 17. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m29.332s + 3.626 39 18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m30.241s + 4.535 41 19. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m31.098s + 5.392 38 20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m31.469s + 5.763 32 21. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m31.804s + 6.098 28 22. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m32.593s + 6.887 12 23. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m32.768s + 7.062 33 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m32.824s + 7.118 33