FIA F1 - Friday Analysis Brazil

Interlagos, Nov. 24, 2012: Friday’s morning session at Interlagos was complicated by the presence of Pirelli’s prototype 2013 tyres, on which pretty much everyone set their best times, and that obscured who was really quick on the 2012 hard and medium rubber. In the afternoon, however, most focused on the latter, as Hamilton opened a small advantage and the top nine cars were covered by a second. The track temperatures all day were well above the norm here, which was an additional complication, especially as rain is forecast for tomorrow afternoon and all day Sunday. We take a team-by-team look at the early running in Sao Paulo…

McLaren Lewis Hamilton, 1m 14.131s, P1/1m 14.026s, P1 Jenson Button, 1m 14.217s, P4/1m 14.863s, P8 Hamilton was very happy with his day, with the caveat that long-run tyre performance still remains a little bit of a mystery, while Button deliberately ran a lower downforce configuration with a smaller rear wing as a comparison in FP2. Given the weather forecast for the rest of the weekend it’s unlikely that the team will pursue the comparison tomorrow.

Red Bull Sebastian Vettel, 1m 14.140s, P2/1m 14.300s, P2 Mark Webber, 1m 14.198s, P3/1m 14.523s, P3 Vettel and Webber both said they were surprised by the lack of grip in the hot conditions, but that they had positive and informative days.

Ferrari Felipe Massa, 1m 14.716s, P6/1m 14.553s, P4 Fernando Alonso, 1m 14.392s, P5/1m 14.592s, P5 Alonso tried different front wings in FP1 and ran a large rear wing in FP2, as Ferrari continues to experiment with the set-up to maximise their chances in qualifying. Both drivers amassed plenty of laps, without trouble, and Massa was the fastest overall on long runs in FP2, but the team are under no illusion about the mountain they have to climb if Alonso is to outscore Vettel by 14 points.

Mercedes Michael Schumacher, 1m 15.114s, P11/1m 14.654s, P6 Nico Rosberg, 1m 16.315s, P18/1m 14.669s, P7 Both drivers said they had a decent day, but both are very well aware that they face a tough race.

Lotus Romain Grosjean, 1m 14.719s, P7/1m 14.994s, P9 Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 15.701s, P16/1m 15.371s, P12 Raikkonen lost a lot of running time in FP1 when his engine kept running roughly, taxing the ingenuity of Renault’s engineers until an ignition coil problem was solved. Otherwise it was a normal Friday at Lotus and Grosjean said he was happy with their race pace.

Force India Paul di Resta, 1m 14.738s, P8/1m 15.129s, P10 Nico Hulkenberg, 1m 15.050s, P10/1m 15.131s, P11 Di Resta described his day as straightforward and positive, and said his VJM05 worked well in both high- and low-speed sections of the track. Hulkenberg said his car was sliding around too much.

Williams Bruno Senna (pm only), 1m 15.432s, P13 Pastor Maldonado, 1m 15.015s, P9/1m 15.953s, P17 Valtteri Bottas (am only), 1m 15.413s, P14 Williams did a lot of set-up and evaluation work with their three drivers, and though Maldonado in particular thought that they lost something in FP2 compared with FP1, he believed they can be competitive tomorrow.

Sauber Sergio Perez, 1m 15.396s, P13/1m 15.542s, P14 Kamui Kobayashi, 1m 15.255s, P12/1m 15.839s, P15 Sauber did a lot of aero work but the C31 isn’t at its best in such high temperatures and both drivers experienced overheating rear tyres and said that performance-wise they weren’t anywhere close to where they wanted to be.

Toro Rosso Daniel Ricciardo, 1m 15.587s, P15/1m 15.902s, P16 Jean-Eric Vergne, 1m 16.048s, P17/1m 16.048s, P18 Both drivers admitted that their STR7s struggled more than most in the very high ambient and track temperatures.

Caterham Vitaly Petrov, 1m 16.617s, P21/1m 16.126s, P19 Heikki Kovalainen (pm only), 1m 16.655s, P20 Giedo van der Garde (am only), 16.460s, P19 Things were more upbeat here this weekend, as some back-to-back aero comparisons enabled the team to move forwards again. Van der Garde particularly impressed with his FP1 performance.

HRT Pedro de la Rosa, 1m 17.678s, P23/1m 17.244s, P21 Narain Karthikeyan, 1m 17.895s, P24/1m 18.139s, P24 Neither driver did much running, as the troubled team were worried about lifing of components and wanted to save mileage for the race. But when he did run, De la Rosa boosted morale with 21st fastest time in FP2.

Marussia Timo Glock, 1m 16.506s, P20/1m 17.675s, P22 Charles Pic, 1m 17.234s, P22/1m 18.127s, P23 Marussia had a trying day, with Glock spinning in the morning due to excessive oversteer, and Pic rolling to a halt in the afternoon with an alternator problem.