F1 2016: Chinese Grand Prix Friday Free Practice round up

The Friday Free Practice for the Chinese Grand Prix saw Mercedes leading the charts in FP1 while the the two Ferraris applied pressure on the Mercs with Raikkonen being fastest in FP2 and Vettel following closely behind.

Fernando Alonso, after his crash in the Australian GP, was declared unfit to race for the Bahrain GP by the official medical team. For the Chinese GP, Alonso was declared ‘provisionally fit’ to race by the stewards, who would wait to see how the Spaniard performs in FP1 following which a call was made to let him drive in FP2 and the rest of the weekend. Alsono finished in both sessions 12^th and 11^th respectively for McLaren.

While Hamilton spun out on the same corner twice in the first session, Both Mercedes cars managed to top the time sheets. But the Brit had to concede the top spot in FP1 to team mate Nico Rosberg. Come FP2, the Ferrari drivers showed better pace to put the Mercs under pressure when Kimi Raikkonen clocked the fastest time of the session with Sebastian Vettel +0.109 setting the second fastest time. Vettel, Rosberg and Hamilton completed 33 laps each during the session but Rosberg’s fastest time was two-tenths off the pace set by Raikkonen and Hamilton’s time was four tenths off.

Williams had a tough time with Filipe Massa’s car during FP1 when a part of the floor of the chassis kept puncturing the rear left tyre. The first time, the team weren’t sure what caused the puncture, but had a good idea it was a part of the floor. So they sent Massa out a second time on purpose and confirmed the cause of the puncture. During this exercise, Massa used up two sets of his soft tyre which looks like it might not hamper his race. Williams managed to rectify the problem and sent Massa out in FP2.

The Sauber F1 Team, have recently gained the limelight for the wrong reasons as the team is now reportedly struggling financially. Media reports have been suggesting that Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has been assessing ways to re-enter the Alfa Romeo brand in to Formula 1 after a hiatus of 36 years. It is reported that FCA could buy out the Swiss team to make its return as a constructor. If the deal is made successfully, the team is expected to run Ferrari engines rebadged as Alfa Romeo.

After the new qualifying system was introduced during the first round of the season, the format received major criticism from competitors, teams, and fans alike. But the FIA continued with the format for Bahrain, but now have scrapped the format and reverted to the 2015 system with the Chinese GP. The weather forecast for Saturday in Shanghai hints towards a wet day at the track which could provide an interesting qualifying. Lewis Hamilton however will face a 5-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change for the Chinese GP which will add to the pressure from the Ferrari’s after FP2.

Also Read: F1 2016: Rosberg wins Bahrain Grand Prix, Haas and new generation impress