Felipe Massa finished fastest in free practice 2 today, at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Drivers took to the soft tyres very early in the day, with Webber out on options only 20 minutes into P1. The Aussie, and German Rosberg, battled for the top spot during P1. In the end Rosberg finished fastest with his teammate behind him.
However, P2 was all about the
Prancing Horses. Massa went out on options, and took the top-spot with a 1:35.340, and stayed there. Alonso rounded off Ferrari's impressive performance in practice so far, albeit 0.4 seconds behind his teammate.
Massa is still 0.2 seconds off of Nico Rosberg's pole position qualifying lap of last season, which you can view
here.
Felipe managed to maintain his speed very well, relative to the rest of the pack. Whilst on the harder (medium) tyres, he completed more laps than most of the field. His performance seemed to be unique, as complaints from drivers about the tyres graining were rife on the radios.
At the opposite end of the field, sits Marussia & Caterham. Caterham have been struggling to stay in competition with Marussia this season, despite being dominant last season. Jules Bianchi put his Marussia over 0.5 seconds ahead of the Caterhams. However, rookie Max Chilton was plagued with issues - ranging from oil pressure issues in P1 to electrical issues & his car spitting fluid out of the back, into the path of oncoming drivers in P2. The Reigate UK born driver moved up to F1 after a two season stint with Carlin in GP2.
Surprisingly, defending champion Sebastien Vettel sits 10th, behind both Force India drivers. Also behind Force India is Perez, who crashed on the pit entry during P1 - and was struggling to find speed. The Mexican's teammate was not free from problems either; Button had to pit after a massive lockup into the hairpin, which destroyed his front left tyre.
Whether Vettel's poor performance will continue into qualifying is yet to be seen. On the other hand, whether Force India's strong achievement of this afternoon's driving will carry over into the weekend, is also unknown.
Jakob Andreasen, Force India Chief Race Engineer, said "Overall I’m pleased with the day’s results and I’m confident that our competitiveness is similar to the performance level we showed during the first couple of races. The next target is to get both our cars into Q3 tomorrow afternoon.”
Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua stood in for Frenchman Charles Pic for Caterham in P1, setting a 1:43.454, 1.462 seconds behind the other Caterham of Giedo Van der Garde. The Shanghai native was a test driver for HRT in 2012, and is currently driving in GP2 for Caterham racing.
Read the Race Department
2013 Chinese Grand Prix preview article
here.
Follow the season on our
F1 Statistics page, for up-to-date standings & charts.
Full P1 Results
1
N ROSBERG
Mercedes
1:36.717
GER
2
L HAMILTON
Mercedes
1:37.171
GBR
3
M WEBBER
Red Bull
1:37.658
AUS
4
S VETTEL
Red Bull
1:37.942
GER
5
F ALONSO
Ferrari
1:37.965
ESP
6
J BUTTON
McLaren
1:38.069
GBR
7
F MASSA
Ferrari
1.38.095
BRA
8
A SUTIL
Force India
1:38.125
GER
9
R GROSJEAN
Lotus
1:38.398
SUI
10
P DI RESTA
Force India
1:38.561
GBR
11
K RAIKKONEN
Lotus
1:38.790
FIN
12
J E VERGNE
Toro Rosso
1:39.057
FRE
13
P MALDONADO
Williams
1:39.158
VEN
14
N HULKENBERG
Sauber
1:39.180
GER
15
JD RICCIARDO
Toro Rosso
1:39.336
AUS
16
S PEREZ
McLaren
1:39.360
MEX
17
V BOTTAS
Williams
1:39.392
FIN
18
E GUTIERREZ
Sauber
1:40.032
MEX
19
J BIANCHI
Marussia
1:41.966
FRE
20
M CHILTON
Marussia
1:42.056
GBR
21
G VAN DER GARDE
Caterham
1:42.083
NLD
22
MA QING HUA
Caterham
1:43.545
CHN
Full P2 Results
1
F MASSA
Ferrari
1:35.340
BRA
2
K RAIKKONEN
Lotus
1:35.492
FIN
3
F ALONSO
Ferrari
1:35.755
ESP
4
N ROSBERG
Mercedes
1:35.819
FIN
5
M WEBBER
Red Bull
1:36.092
AUS
6
J BUTTON
McLaren
1:36.432
GBR
7
L HAMILTON
Mercedes
1:36.496
GBR
8
A SUTIL
Force India
1:36.514
GER
9
P DI RESTA
Force India
1:36.595
GBR
10
S VETTEL
Red Bull
1:36.791
GER
11
S PEREZ
McLaren
1:36.940
MEX
12
R GROSJEAN
Lotus
1:36.963
SUI
13
E GUTIERREZ
Sauber
1:37.103
MEX
14
D RICCIARDO
Toro Rosso
1:37.206
AUS
15
J E VERGNE
Toro Rosso
1:38.127
FRE
16
V BOTTAS
Williams
1:38.185
FIN
17
N HULKENBERG
Sauber
1:38.211
GER
18
P MALDONADO
Williams
1:38.276
VEN
19
J BIANCHI
Marussia
1:38.725
FRE
20
G VAN DER GARDE
Caterham
1:39.271
NLD
21
C PIC
Caterham
1:39.814
FRE
22
M CHILTON
Marussia
1:43.227
GBR
Image: Bettor
