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Good morning (or afternoon, or evening depending on where you are in the world!) and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix. While this race has been somewhat overshadowed by the issues at Red Bull, a competitive weekend in shaping up... |
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Red Bull itself, Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus all look competitive this weekend, while McLaren's long runs didn't look too bad yesterday (although Jenson Button was pessimistic about his chances). And they've all got just one more hour to perfect their cars for qualifying and the race |
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The word on everyone's lips this weekend is tyres. The soft compound is lasting for very few laps at present but is much quicker than the mediums over one lap, so the top 10 will be looking to be careful with the set they clock their final time on. It also means drivers will only get one lap to set a representative time, both in FP3 and qualifying |
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Interestingly, Ferrari - and Massa in particular - seems very happy with the soft tyre. He says his car is much improved on the soft compound and it could be looking strong this afternoon. Red Bull, naturally, is unhappiest at the lack of tyre life on the softs, while Lewis Hamilton wonders if it was the right choice compound from Pirelli |
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If you'd like to get in touch with us during this final session then you can do so in one of two ways. Either emails us with your questions and comments using the link above or you can message us on Twitter @ESPNF1 |
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It's a warm day in Shanghai, with air temperature up at 24C and the track temperature 31C |
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One small sub-plot that I'll be keeping an eye on is the battle at Mercedes. I thought Hamilton looked a touch out of sorts yesterday and Rosberg beat him comfortably in both sessions, but it remains to be seen if Hamilton can respond today or if his team-mate has the upper hand |
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There's a fairly brisk wind that's picked up which is a crosswind on the long back straight, but it's turning slightly in to a tailwind so we may see a few people caught out under braking there |
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There are two DRS zones which driver can make use of at Shanghai; one is on the long back straight and the other is on the pit straight |
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Raikkonen is sat in his car but there's still a lot of work going on around the Lotus which is missing a nose, engine cover and the all-important four wheels. Looks like he's not been out yet due to necessity rather than choice. Everyone else has either been out or is on track |
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Van der Garde has gone straight in to his first run of the day in his Caterham |
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Vettel was supposed to drive through the pit lane but clearly didn't as his engineer comes on the radio and says "That's not what I'd call a drive through". I missed Vettel's response but Rocky then says "OK, box this lap" |
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Pic runs wide at turn one and has to take to the run-off |
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Vettel is asked again to do a drive through and practice start at the end of the pit lane, which he does |
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The first time of the day is from van der Garde with a 1:41.924. Pic is just 0.071s off his team-mate |
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It appears Vettel said "I didn't get the message" when Rocky said "That's not what I'd call a drive through" |
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Van der Garde improves to a 1:41.434 |
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Pic can't improve as both Caterhams are joined by Gutierrez and Chilton on track |
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The ambulance has been through the pit lane down to the Marussia garage. Sky reports that it's a leg injury to one of its mechanics that isn't serious |
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Gutierrez clocks a 1:42.703 to go third quickest. Pic pits after being asked to push on the in lap so the team can get tyre pressures |
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Perez is going quickest and three fastest sectors result in a 1:38.769 |
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Perez reports very poor traction, but is told the track is still slow and that it should improve over the next few laps |
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As a comparison with yesterday, Massa's fastest time in FP2 was a 1:35.340 so the track is slower but of course we're yet to see the softs |
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Raikkonen goes fastest with a 1:38.323 |
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Perez improves to a 1:38.437 |
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Rosberg puts in a quick first lap to go top - 1:37.699 |
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Hamilton is responding to his team-mate and is half a second up through sector two |
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Hamilton goes quickest with a 1:37.042. That's a good time on the medium tyre and 0.657s quicker than his team-mate |
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Vettel goes second with a 1:37.528 |
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Button is 1.7s off the pace with his latest lap |
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Ferrari playing its usual game of not going out until the track has cleaned up. It'll be interesting to see what sort of time it can do in response to Mercedes on the medium tyre |
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I've just listened to Max Chilton's radio conversation with his race engineer and there are a lot of complaints! Understeer in to Turn 1, snap oversteer through Turn 2 before more understeer and traction is terrible: "It feels like I'm on 10 lap old tyres on the rears" |
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Hamilton improves to a 1:36.961, while Rosberg has got closer to his team-mate with a 1:37.349 |
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Both Ferraris and Webber are now on track |
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Webber catches a big oversteer moment through turn seven |
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Webber goes fourth with a 1:37.905 |
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Alonso's first lap is a second off the pace and only fifth quickest, while Massa goes sixth |
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Webber improves to a 1:37.617 as Alonso is given a comprehensive run down of the wind directions |
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I think we could see that from the likes of Force India and McLaren, but the gap between mediums and softs is too big for the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull to try that |
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Vettel's back out for Red Bull, but he's still half a second off the pace |
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Mario emails in to ask: "Do you think the lap record done by Schumacher in 2004 will be ever broken?" We can't say what will happen in the long-term future, but I can't see it being beaten for a while because that was a time when the engine and technical regulations were less restrictive than now. The new V6 turbos are unlikely to be able to challenge that time |
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Rosberg starts a lap on the soft compound - his best so far is a 1:37.349 - but he aborts |
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Rosberg says: "Something's broken on the springs or something ... a lot of bottoming" |
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Strange here, Hamilton started his flying lap on softs and did the fastest first sector but then backs off and is really crawling back to the pits |
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Hamilton radios in to say "How was the first sector?" The response is "That was purple, Lewis" and he winds it up to go again. He's 0.2s slower in sector one this time round though |
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Rosberg is out of his car and looks like he won't be able to run again in this session |
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Button complaining about the rear grip at high speed in his McLaren |
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Hamilton does a 1:36.065 to improve by 0.8s overall, but there's more time there |
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Raikkonen's got the softs on now too. A quiet track with only Hamilotn, Grosjean and Sutil also out there (all on softs) |
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Raikkonen sets the fastest first sector, matching what Hamilton had done on his first timed lap |
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Raikkonen goes second with a 1:36.605 - 0.5s down on Hamilton |
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Definitely no more running for Rosberg - the engine cover is off his car and there's a lot of work going on |
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Sutil with a good lap so far on the softs... and he goes second with a 1:36.549 |
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We're seeing a lot of drivers out on the softs now. Massa starts his lap |
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Massa is being followed round by Alonso and both are going very quickly |
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Massa goes quickest... before Alonso does a 1:35.391. That is a very quick time |
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Di Resta is two seconds off the pace and almost a second off Sutil |
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Button does a 1:36.693 for sixth quickest, with team-mate Perez within 0.1s |
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Webber with the fastest first sector. Only Rosberg not on track |
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Webber goes fourth but is a second slower than Alonso. Alonso was absolutely MIGHTY in the final sector |
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Vettel can only go fourth with a 1:36.286 - he's 0.9s off Alonso |
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Grosjean locks up in to the final corner and ruins his lap slightly as he runs wide |
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Vettel locks up on an in-lap, and he'll probably be a bit unhappy about the gap to the front. It looks very much like a straight fight between Ferrari and Mercedes for pole position this afternoon... |
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...obviously there will be plenty more aspects to the session this afternoon, not least where the Red Bulls will line-up in relation to one another. Rosberg is on the back foot slightly but we're all set for an exciting qualifying session; don't miss it. We'll be back with all the build-up in 90 minutes. |
The session begins with Jules Bianchi heading straight out. He's followed by Gutierrez, Sutil and the Toro Rossos
Nobody improving out there that I can see at the moment, but certainly nobody will beat Alonso now
