• Chinese Grand Prix - FP2

Heidfeld takes blame for crashes

The remains of Heidfeld's Renault returns to the pits after FP1 © Getty Images

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• Report:
• Vettel leads the way in China
  

• Race:
• Chinese Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Nick Heidfeld
• |
• Vitaly Petrov

• Teams:
• Renault

Nick Heidfeld has taken the blame for both his spins during Friday practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.

His first accident came five laps into FP1 when he spun on the exit of turn 10 while activating his DRS. He struck the inside barrier hard enough to break the front wing and the crash put him out of the rest of the session. In FP2 he ran wide in turn one and made contact with the barrier before getting the car back to the pits with the help of the local marshals.

"Today obviously wasn't what we wanted, after I spun off in the first session and then again in the second which were both my fault," he said. "I hope it's a good omen because in Malaysia we also didn't have many laps on the Friday and then we had a good result.

He said the car still seemed quick despite the limited running.

"Given that I only had five laps in the first session, it was surprising how fast I was, we were both in the top 10. There's still some more in the car but the gap is a bit bigger than we would have hoped for. As expected, we achieved quicker lap times when using the softs over the hards, and it was good that we managed to use both."

Team-mate Vitaly Petrov had a more straightforward Friday, but is getting used to a new chassis - Heidfeld's from Australia - after crashing at the Malaysian Grand Prix last week.

"We managed to run the whole way through both sessions, and then we were able to work on some directions for set-up so we're quite happy with that," he said. "I think we need to be happy with today, of course not on the pace and the lap time as we can be quite a bit quicker. What is good is that we don't have any mechanical problems, we can still continue to work and push hard. The option tyres were a big improvement, as usual, with much more grip."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.