Shuffled grid expected for Australian Grand Prix | 2012 Australian Grand Prix practice analysis

Shuffled grid expected for Australian Grand Prix | 2012 Australian Grand Prix practice analysis:
Shuffled grid expected for Australian Grand Prix is an original article from F1 Fanatic.

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Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Melbourne, 2012

Fernando Alonso expects some change to the usual running order in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
Speaking after rain disrupted both of today’s practice sessions the Ferrari driver said: “There’s no point looking at the time sheet from today with a
view to making predictions for qualifying.
“Tomorrow I expect to see a very mixed up grid because there are so many teams that have done a good job over the winter”
Two dry sessions might have given us more of an indication what shape the teams are in heading into the first race of the season. But there’s little to be gleaned from Friday’s practice data.

Longest stints in second practice

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2012drivercolours.csv

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Sebastian Vettel	96.975	94.545	94.76	100.204	93.14	92.762	92.582	92.194	93.093	92.238
Mark Webber	96.77	94.613	93.47	99.706	93.196	93.014	92.296	98.319	94.191
Jenson Button	97.522	95.382	94.465	93.971	98.084	93.478	93.039	97.377	93.742
Lewis Hamilton	98.217	96.638	94.969	93.93	93.713	93.52	93.935	93.252	97.736
Fernando Alonso	96.203	90.341	101.103	93.942	91.645
Felipe Massa	91.505	96.233	95.469
Michael Schumacher	95.198	90.643	93.651	89.819	94.001	89.662	89.183
Nico Rosberg	95.103	94.222	96.714	92.394	94.366	95.545	92.184	92.403
Kimi Raikkonen	99.638	95.459	96.795	98.475	94.275
Romain Grosjean	96.19	95.245	94.44	94.873	93.828	93.774	93.466	92.822	93.551
Paul di Resta	92.302	91.639	101.381
Nico Hulkenberg	94.015	94.469	95.791	89.808	100.355	89.971	89.292
Kamui Kobayashi	107.17	115.464	106.098	112.065	105.117	105.22
Sergio Perez	92.06	90.25	95.293	98.905	90.199	91.226
Daniel Ricciardo	105.742	102.248	101.492	100.592	100.827	99.414	99.952	99.706	99.124	98.914
Jean-Eric Vergne	100.443	98.016	97.306	96.161	95.673	95.111	95.065	94.485	97.608	100.834
Pastor Maldonado	98.144	95.905	95.829	94.965	94.108	112.631	94.92	99.014	98.892
Bruno Senna	98.326	97.954	95.429	94.891	96.913	98.661	94.583	95.688	94.312
Heikki Kovalainen	93.347	95.456	96.354	92.182	91.932	96.402	94.389
Vitaly Petrov	99.066	99.423	99.802	99.622	92.767	103.045	98.999	96.897
Pedro de la Rosa
Narain Karthikeyan	108.73	105.645	102.627	102.865
Timo Glock	101.389	110.926	102.833
Charles Pic	106.55	112.445	103.927	115.871

Michael Schumacher was quickest at the end of the second session but was cautious about Mercedes’ potential:
“I would not go so far as to speak about being confident, as the weather conditions were too mixed to gain a clear picture,” he said. “We know what Friday sessions are for and don’t know what fuel loads others were running.
“On the other hand, it is good to see that we were competitive in different circumstances today and that the car provides good handling – I just feel it.”
Looking at the longest stint lap times from the second session (above) Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes had comparable rates of drop-off in their performance. Where Ferrari are in this picture is even harder to tell as their stints were shorter.
Ordinarily teams would use this part of the session to compare the tyre compounds on offer, but their ability to do that was limited by the conditions.
Red Bull put both their drivers on the soft tyre for this late stint. Jenson Button did the same, whereas Lewis Hamilton used the medium.
Schumacher also used the medium for his last stint. Pirelli said the tyre was “particularly well suited to the conditions” and added: “the performance gap between the two compounds has significantly decreased”.

Best sectors and ultimate laps

Here are the drivers best sector times from the second session:

	Car	Driver	Car	Sector 1	Sector 2	Sector 3	Ultimate lap	Gap	Deficit to best
1	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	30.371	23.393	35.233	1’28.997		0.186
2	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	30.302	23.594	35.232	1’29.128	0.131	0.164
3	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	30.433	23.800	35.625	1’29.858	0.861	0.341
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	30.597	23.538	35.874	1’30.009	1.012	0.332
5	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	30.767	23.999	35.697	1’30.463	1.466	0.246
6	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	31.039	23.827	35.865	1’30.731	1.734	0.735
7	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	30.701	23.837	36.618	1’31.156	2.159	0.776
8	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	30.877	24.153	36.348	1’31.378	2.381	0.127
9	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	31.239	24.191	36.656	1’32.086	3.089	0.098
10	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	31.031	24.424	36.667	1’32.122	3.125	0.072
11	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	31.195	24.409	36.627	1’32.231	3.234	0.065
12	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	31.254	23.980	37.008	1’32.242	3.245	0.525
13	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	31.419	24.282	36.931	1’32.632	3.635	0.000
14	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	31.392	24.579	36.719	1’32.690	3.693	0.132
15	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	31.582	24.433	36.912	1’32.927	3.930	0.112
16	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	31.494	24.614	37.144	1’33.252	4.255	0.000
17	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	31.431	24.787	37.402	1’33.620	4.623	0.488
18	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	31.638	24.761	37.471	1’33.870	4.873	0.442
19	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	31.684	24.898	37.335	1’33.917	4.920	0.358
20	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	31.884	24.888	37.713	1’34.485	5.488	0.000
21	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	31.952	24.968	37.605	1’34.525	5.528	0.079
22	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	32.136	25.009	37.625	1’34.770	5.773	0.000
23	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	34.095	26.905	39.967	1’40.967	11.970	1.660
24	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	53.525	35.542

Despite having had little pre-season running, Marussia look capable of beating the 107% rule in Q1 and making it into the race. Timo Glock was only 3.9% slower than Schumacher in the second session.
Unlike all of the drivers in front of him, Glock set all three of his best sectors on that lap. But even knowing that – and assuming this was a low-fuel run on new, soft tyres, and that the faster cars will pick up more time on a fully-dry track – this is a positive sign the MR01s can qualify on merit.
It’s hard to be similarly optimistic about HRT’s chances, but at least they have done more running so far than they had at this point last year.

Straight-line speeds

Maximum speeds – first practice:

	#	Driver	Car	Engine	Max speed	Gap
1	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	Renault	313.9
2	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	Mercedes	312.8	1.1
3	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Renault	312.8	1.1
4	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	312.5	1.4
5	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	312	1.9
6	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	Mercedes	311.9	2
7	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	311.2	2.7
8	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber	Ferrari	310.4	3.5
9	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	Ferrari	309.1	4.8
10	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	Mercedes	308.7	5.2
11	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	Mercedes	308.6	5.3
12	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	308.2	5.7
13	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	Renault	307.6	6.3
14	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull	Renault	306.8	7.1
15	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	Renault	305.6	8.3
16	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	Ferrari	304.4	9.5
17	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Ferrari	303.1	10.8
18	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	Renault	302	11.9
19	19	Bruno Senna	Williams	Renault	301.5	12.4
20	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	Renault	301.3	12.6
21	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	Cosworth	297.1	16.8
22	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	Cosworth	290	23.9
23	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	Cosworth	266.2	47.7

Maximum speeds – second practice:

	#	Driver	Car	Engine	Max speed	Gap
1	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Renault	314.5
2	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	Mercedes	311.8	2.7
3	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber	Ferrari	311.7	2.8
4	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	Ferrari	311.1	3.4
5	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	308.6	5.9
6	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	Mercedes	308.3	6.2
7	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	308	6.5
8	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	307.9	6.6
9	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	Renault	307.4	7.1
10	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	Renault	307.3	7.2
11	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	Ferrari	304.2	10.3
12	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	Cosworth	303.8	10.7
13	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Ferrari	303.6	10.9
14	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	Cosworth	301.6	12.9
15	19	Bruno Senna	Williams	Renault	300.1	14.4
16	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	Cosworth	299	15.5
17	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	Renault	298.6	15.9
18	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	Renault	297.7	16.8
19	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	Mercedes	297.6	16.9
20	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull	Renault	297.1	17.4
21	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	Renault	297.1	17.4
22	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	Mercedes	296.7	17.8
23	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	296	18.5
24	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	Cosworth	150.3	164.2

Mercedes’ rear wing, which is believed to enhance the power of its DRS to give it superior drag-reduction, has been the focus of much discussion. Schumacher was the second-fastest driver through the speed trap in both sessions.
Last year we grew accustomed to seeing Red Bull towards the bottom of the speed trap times and that was the case here as well. However the rapidly-drying track in the second session appears to have exaggerated the difference.

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2012 Australian Grand Prix

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Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
Shuffled grid expected for Australian Grand Prix is an original article from F1 Fanatic.

If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

ME HERO DYD