24/03/2012
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's sole free practice session, the air temperature is 27 degrees C, while the track temperature is 29 degrees. Humidity is 84 percent.
While it had been bright and sunny for much of the morning, around twenty minutes before the start of the session it began to rain. Not too much but it is clearly in the air with some big dark clouds in the distance. We know from experience that while sometime we can escape with a quick downpour that dries out in no time, we can also suffer a deluge of Monsoon proportions.
Other than that, the big excitement here has been a fire which has badly damaged part of the Lotus team's hospitality suite. Thankfully nobody was hurt but the team has had to make alternative arrangements for its guests.
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in both of yesterday's sessions, the McLaren looking comfortable on both the hard and medium compounds. While Melbourne winner Jenson Button was up there, so too were the Mercedes duo and Sebastian Vettel, even if the mood in the Red Bull camp is more than a little down at present.
The big question is tyre degradation, something which the powers that be called for in order to improve the show, and which they appear to have here in spades. Indeed, in terms of degradation there is little between the two compounds, leading to Pirelli suggesting that we could be seeing some teams adopt a four stop strategy on Sunday.
"Malaysia is one of the biggest challenges that we will face all year, and that is down to the nature of the track and the weather," says Paul Hembery. "We can expect a similar performance gap between the two nominated compounds as we saw in Australia, however, our target is still for that gap to be less than one second - even though there is a whole step missing between the soft and the hard compounds that we have chosen for the race.
"Tyre strategy is going to be very important," he adds, "particularly when it comes to looking after tyres at the beginning of a stint."
The world champion described his car as undriveable, while Webber has had all manner of changes made to his car in an effort to lessen tyre wear. In fact, other than the McLarens, one of the few other teams that appears to be getting the best out of its rubber is Ferrari, whilst Mercedes quietly admits concern.
The dusty track surface has led to a number of offs and excursions, with Paul di Resta having fun and games in both yesterday's sessions.
Sauber is having a reoccurrence of the gearbox problems that plagued it in Australia, while a change of gearbox means a five-place grid penalty for Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen.
Minutes before the start of the session, Rosberg is standing outside his garage looking anxious, his Mercedes thought to have a n engine problem, though at this stage it's not known how serious it is. Judging be the German's face, it's fairly serious.
The lights go green and Glock leads the way, followed by Vergne, Ricciardo, Kobayashi, Perez and a host of others. With the session declared wet, intermediates are the order of the day. Since the rain has stopped and the heat and wind are already drying the track we expect that it won't be too long before the drivers switch to slicks. Assuming there are no more downpours.
Schumacher reports that it is dry, and the overhead shot confirms this.
Within minutes all have been out except Rosberg, di Resta subsequently coming out for a second installation lap.
While the track does indeed appear to be dry, there remains the threat of rain, particularly this afternoon. All of which complicates things in terms of qualifying and the race, the drivers preferring things to be one way or the other not in between.
Fifteen minutes into the session, as his rivals wait patiently, Rosberg is the last driver to come out, the German performing a practice start which he aborts and then tries again, this time with success. Senna is also on track.
The Brazilian is the first driver to post a time, the Williams crossing the line at 1:43.721. Back in the pitlane his rivals watch with great interest. All except Pic and de la Rosa who head down the pitlane.
Senna improves to 42.276 as Alonso heads down the pitlane. While the track appears bone dry, there are clear droplets of water on the camera lens on the Ferrari and a few suspect damp patches in the final sector.
As Senna posts 41.329 and Pic 57.918, Alonso splits the pair with a 43.907. Elsewhere, teammate Massa gets to work.
As more drivers pour on to the track - no pun intended - Grosjean goes quickest with a 40.239. Teammate Raikkonen goes quickest in the first two sectors but loses time in the (damp) third, crossing the line at 40.319 to go second.
Senna improves to 39.622 as the McLarens, Mercedes and Red Bulls head down the pitlane.
A 38.888 sees Vettel go quickest, while, despite being fastest in two sectors, Rosberg can only manage eighth (40.461).
Button posts 39.366 to go third but is demoted by Webber (38.518) and then Grosjean (38.576), who loses time in S3 behind Massa.
With 24:07 on the clock, Webber consolidates his top spot with a 38.145 while Maldonado and Hamilton are the only drivers yet to post a time. Indeed, the Englishman has a big moment at Turn 14 which sees him flat-spot his tyres and make full use of the generous run-off. The McLaren driver had a similarly big wobble yesterday on his first run on full fuel. Elsewhere, a big lock-up for Schumacher.
With 21:40 on the clock, it's: Webber, Vettel, Maldonado, Grosjean, Kobayashi, Ricciardo, Schumacher, Perez, Raikkonen and Button. Everyone is one the hard compound.
As Perez goes second (38.444), Schumacher goes quickest in S1, subsequently crossing the line at 38.346 to demote the Sauber driver.
Maldonado goes quickest with a 38.118 only to be leapfrogged by Vettel's 38.024. Hamilton is back in the pits having failed to post a time.
As conditions improve in the final sector, Maldonado posts 37.455 to re-take the top spot while Rosberg improves to fourth with a 38.230. Senna makes it a Williams 1-3 with a 38.091, both drivers on the softer medium compound.
With 13:14 on the clock there are only a couple of drivers on track as the drivers prepare for a final phase which will see them carry out qualifying runs.
A glue gun is brought out in the McLaren garage for some unspecified repair to Hamilton's car which is shod with medium tyres. Only Kobayashi and de la Rosa are on track.
At 9:53, Hamilton heads down the pitlane on a brand new set of mediums, watched intently by his 23 rivals.
Kobayashi takes second with a 37.977 as Button leaves the pits. Massa, with the benefit of a new front wing, heads out of the Ferrari garage.
Hamilton's first flying lap sees the Englishman go second (37.776), which is pretty good under the circumstances. All but de la Rosa now on track.
Schumacher goes quickest in S1, though Button, Webber and Perez are also quick. Button quickest in S2, while Rosberg and Raikkonen up the ante.
At the line Button posts 37.404 to go quickest, but is demoted by Webber (37.338) and then Vettel (37.320).
Rosberg goes quickest with a 36.877 as Raikkonen goes fifth and Schumacher a disappointing eighth, having lost time in S3.
The problems continue for Force India, Hulkenberg currently fourteenth and di Resta seventeenth, as the Silverstone outfit continues to struggle.
As the clock counts down to 0:25, there are no significant improvements, not a hint of purple, as Schumacher has a wobble.
As the chequered flag is waved, Rosberg is quickest, ahead of Vettel, Webber, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Button, Maldonado, Schumacher, Hamilton and Kobayashi.
Senna is eleventh, ahead of Perez, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Vergne, di Resta, Massa, Petrov, Kovalainen, Pic, Glock, de la Rosa and Karthikeyan.