Practice 1 seems to say yes. to follow click here
Practice 1 (Friday Morning) | Pos |
| No |
| Driver |
| Team |
| Time/Retired |
| Gap |
| Laps |
| 1 |
| 1 |
| Lewis Hamilton |
| McLaren-Mercedes |
| 1:37.334 |
|
|
| 22 |
| 2 |
| 22 |
| Jenson Button |
| Brawn-Mercedes |
| 1:37.450 |
| 0.116 |
| 18 |
| 3 |
| 23 |
| Rubens Barrichello |
| Brawn-Mercedes |
| 1:37.566 |
| 0.232 |
| 19 |
| 4 |
| 2 |
| Heikki Kovalainen |
| McLaren-Mercedes |
| 1:37.672 |
| 0.338 |
| 23 |
| 5 |
| 14 |
| Mark Webber |
| RBR-Renault |
| 1:37.752 |
| 0.418 |
| 20 |
| 6 |
| 9 |
| Jarno Trulli |
| Toyota |
| 1:37.764 |
| 0.430 |
| 19 |
| 7 |
| 16 |
| Nico Rosberg |
| Williams-Toyota |
| 1:37.860 |
| 0.526 |
| 24 |
| 8 |
| 10 |
| Timo Glock |
| Toyota |
| 1:37.894 |
| 0.560 |
| 21 |
| 9 |
| 7 |
| Fernando Alonso |
| Renault |
| 1:38.089 |
| 0.755 |
| 19 |
| 10 |
| 11 |
| Sebastien Bourdais |
| STR-Ferrari |
| 1:38.195 |
| 0.861 |
| 24 |
| 11 |
| 4 |
| Kimi Räikkönen |
| Ferrari |
| 1:38.223 |
| 0.889 |
| 23 |
| 12 |
| 15 |
| Sebastian Vettel |
| RBR-Renault |
| 1:38.274 |
| 0.940 |
| 20 |
| 13 |
| 12 |
| Sebastien Buemi |
| STR-Ferrari |
| 1:38.307 |
| 0.973 |
| 26 |
| 14 |
| 20 |
| Adrian Sutil |
| Force India-Mercedes |
| 1:38.319 |
| 0.985 |
| 18 |
| 15 |
| 3 |
| Felipe Massa |
| Ferrari |
| 1:38.418 |
| 1.084 |
| 20 |
| 16 |
| 6 |
| Nick Heidfeld |
| BMW Sauber |
| 1:38.456 |
| 1.122 |
| 21 |
| 17 |
| 21 |
| Giancarlo Fisichella |
| Force India-Mercedes |
| 1:38.460 |
| 1.126 |
| 19 |
| 18 |
| 5 |
| Robert Kubica |
| BMW Sauber |
| 1:38.463 |
| 1.129 |
| 18 |
| 19 |
| 17 |
| Kazuki Nakajima |
| Williams-Toyota |
| 1:38.730 |
| 1.396 |
| 25 |
| 20 |
| 8 |
| Nelsinho Piquet |
| Renault |
| 1:38.825 |
| 1.491 |
| 20 |
Pre race comment
Jenson Button - “After the excitement of the first two races, it has been great to have the chance to relax and reflect for a few days since the dramatic race in Malaysia. I am understandably delighted with how our season has begun however we are only two races in and everyone at the team is aware that our competitors will not stand still. We fully expect a tough fight from here if we want to continue our early successes.”
Rubens Barrichello - “It seems strange to be returning to China already but I’m looking forward to the weekend as Shanghai is an impressive facility and the circuit provides an interesting challenge for the drivers. The track holds some good memories for me as I won the first race here in 2004. With the car that we have this year, it is so exciting to be able to return with the opportunity to compete at the front again. The BGP 001 has gone well at the two very different race tracks in Australia and Malaysia so it will be interesting to see how the car performs in Shanghai which is quite a unique circuit. You need to have a very good aerodynamic balance combined with a stable car and good straight-line speed to take advantage of the long straights.”
Giancarlo Fisichella - “We need more downforce now, but we have a clear direction to improve and I think this is really positive. I think it’s too early to start hoping for points yet, but we need to keep the momentum going and get as much information as possible so when we introduce new parts we can really see an improvement. Last year we were struggling everywhere, but this year it’s just downforce. We need more grip in the corners. I know we have some developments in the pipeline so at this point in the season I am hopeful. The car has potential, definitely.”
Adrian Sutil - “This year I’ve got a 100% finish record so far, and I want to keep this up. We’ve seen that some of the other teams are having problems with KERS and the order is not so fixed at the moment so if you get to the finish there’s a good chance you could do well. I think this should be our goal for now but when we get back to Europe I want to be racing on merit, not just waiting for something to happen to another driver.”
Kazuki Nakajima - "Shanghai is definitely a challenging circuit, but at least I've now had some experience of it so it's not new for me anymore. Last year, we struggled on tracks like China, but now our car is looking quite strong. It's well balanced in the high and low speed corners so I'm hoping we'll go much better there this year and I can score my first points of the season. Starting the race lower down the grid [at Sepang], I was alongside a lot of the KERS car who are able to make better starts so my aim is to improve my qualifying position in China,”
Niko Rosberg - “Sepang showed that the team seem to have fixed the problem we had last year on these types of circuits so it's now looking like we have consistency. I'm confident that we'll have another competitive weekend in China. Top eight for sure.”
Timo Glock - "We have finished on the podium in both races so far and we have deserved to be there. Our car is really quick and everyone is doing a good job. We have shown what we are capable of so now we have to keep pushing hard and we can continue to be one of the top teams this season. We are second in the constructors’ championship and we have had both cars in the top four in both races so far this season so our aim has to be to finish on the podium again in China. I was in the points in China last year but now our car is much more competitive. It is more stable, you can push more as a driver and it is obviously faster relative to the competition. I’m really looking forward to China."
Fernando Alonso - “I believe in this team and we saw last year that they know how to fight back and find performance from the car. It's still very early days and everyone in the team is working hard to develop the R29 so that we can be more competitive in the next few races. I was disappointed not to score points in Malaysia as my aim is to score points at every race this season. Obviously it's difficult to change the car until we get back to Europe, but we have learnt a lot from the first two races and we certainly made progress in Malaysia. We need to take another step forward in Shanghai and hopefully score points.”
