Oct 28, 2011
Getty Images
They were still painting lines on the track last night, some building work was not quite finished and there were a few other teething problems, literally in the case of a dog that ran on the track and interrupted FP1, but overall, the first day of F1 action in India can be deemed to have gone off smoothly, with a huge army of local and very friendly staff speed-learning the difficult task of hosting a race meeting.
Ultimately, the success and failure of a Grand Prix has a lot to with the actual race track itself and the Buddh International Circuit has met with unanimous approval from the drivers. If you watch the action on television, it’s easy to see why, as it’s every bit as quick and challenging as we were told it would be. A trip out trackside and it’s even more thrilling, especially if you pick one of the sections where there are high speed changes of direction. Some parts are also particularly wide, which should allow for different lines and therefore even more overtaking. However, before that happens more running is needed as getting off the racing line today meant finding yourself on a very slippery surface indeed.
For Scuderia Toro Rosso, keen to continue down the path that led to our great result in Korea a fortnight ago, the first day of practice was a bit of a mixed bag. Jaime Alguersuari told his engineer over the radio that he did not have a good feeling from the car and, 19 laps into the first session that unease translated into a backwards thwack into the barriers at Turn 9. If you don’t push to the limits you don’t know where they are and these things sometimes happen. There was no damage to the actual chassis and the mechanics set about repairing the Spaniard’s car and his TR6 was all back together again in time for the afternoon session, in which he finished 14th. Overall, he completed a total of 50 laps. Team-mate Sébastien Buemi had a more straightforward day, running trouble free throughout the three hours on offer. The Swiss driver ended the day tenth on the time sheet, having completed 59 laps, one less than Sunday’s race distance.
The honour of topping the first ever F1 time sheet at an Indian Grand Prix went to Felipe Massa, while his Ferrari team-mate, Fernando Alonso was third. Sandwiched in between them came the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, while in fourth place was Lewis Hamilton for McLaren. Mark Webber was fifth for Red Bull and Jenson Button was sixth in the second McLaren. Tomorrow afternoon sees the first critical part of the weekend, with qualifying which should be particularly exciting given the high speed nature of this track.
Credit: Scuderia Toro Rosso (www.scuderiatororosso.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment