F1Weekly podcast # 622

F1weekly podcast number 622 Clark and Nasir preview the Chinese Grand Prix, we got Motorsports Mondial special Interview with Tom Dillmann and Tech Talk with Tim.

And this is what happened today in FP2…

Felipe Massa on top in second practice beating Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso.

At no time throughout Alonso’s 200-race Formula One career has the double world champion been out-qualified by a team-mate for five successive races.

But Massa, who just under a year ago appeared to be on his way out of F1 after a miserable start to last season, has every chance of doing just that to Alonso tomorrow.

Massa, whose form skyrocketed after last season’s August break, beat Alonso over one lap in the final two races of last season, repeating the feat for the opening two grands prix of this campaign.

In second practice ahead of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, an in-form Massa emerged quickest at the Shanghai International Circuit to beat Alonso into third place on the timesheet by 0.415secs.

Massa set a best time of one minute 35.340secs, and during a long run late in the second 90-minute session was told by engineer Rob Smedley his pace was “not just very good, but incredible”.

Come the conclusion, the Ferrari duo sandwiched Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen in second, the Finn finishing 0.152secs adrift of Brazilian Massa.

As for Mercedes, who were one-two at the end of FP1 with Nico Rosberg ahead of Lewis Hamilton, the duo had to settle for fourth and seventh in FP2.

Both remarked of high degradation with the soft Pirelli tyres – a trend across most cars – leaving Rosberg, who gave Mercedes their only win in three years here last season, nearly half a second down on Massa.

As for Hamilton, who complained bitterly at one point about his tyres falling away, the 27-year-old Briton finished 1.156secs adrift.

Splitting the Mercedes pairing were Mark Webber in his Red Bull, with the Australian three quarters of a second off the pace, and McLaren’s Jenson Button who was a second down.

The Woking-based marque have worked tirelessly over the past two weeks to rectify the faults on a car that started abysmally off the pace in Australia, and to a lesser extent in Malaysia.

Sporting a new exhaust and sidepods, along with many other bits of bodywork, McLaren appear to be closing the gap on their rivals.

For team-mate Sergio Perez, though, both sessions were ones to forget as he ended FP1 by breaking the front wing with a run across the gravel at the entrance to the pit lane.

Whilst just 15 minutes into FP2 he spun his car, again through a gravel trap, before damaging the rear wing against a tyre wall.

The Mexican eventually finished 11th quickest, just behind Red Bull’s three-times world champion Sebastian Vettel who had Force India duo Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta ahead of him in eighth and ninth.

Di Resta finished 1.255secs behind Massa, and only 0.081secs behind Sutil as the Silverstone-based marque again appear strong.

Sadly for Marussia’s Max Chilton, the young Briton suffered an oil pressure problem that twice ground him to a halt out on track.

Chilton had only completed four laps when the issue first appeared, and although the team retrieved the car and got him back out, he was quickly told to pull over again with a repeat of the concern.

 

Pos Driver                Team                  Time      Gap        Laps

 1. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m35.340s             32

 2. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m35.492s  + 0.152s   32

 3. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m35.755s  + 0.415s   30

 4. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m35.819s  + 0.479s   35

 5. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m36.092s  + 0.752s   31

 6. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m36.432s  + 1.092s   29

 7. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m36.496s  + 1.156s   39

 8. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m36.514s  + 1.174s   32

 9. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m36.595s  + 1.255s   33

10. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m36.791s  + 1.451s   27

11. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m36.940s  + 1.600s   16

12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m36.963s  + 1.623s   31

13. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m37.103s  + 1.763s   22

14. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m37.206s  + 1.866s   39

15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m38.127s  + 2.787s   34

16. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m38.185s  + 2.845s   18

17. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m38.211s  + 2.871s   32

18. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m38.276s  + 2.936s   34

19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m38.725s  + 3.385s   29

20. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m39.271s  + 3.931s   21

21. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m39.814s  + 4.474s   27

22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m43.227s  + 7.887s    5

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