Greater Noida: Red Bull dominated the practice sessions by putting both their cars at the top in free practice two (FP2), but Sebastian Vettel, who had the fastest time, reckons that the qualifying result may be different.
After the final practice session on Saturday morning, the drivers will fight for the positions on the grid for Sunday’s race.
“Fridays are always difficult with so many things changing. The track improvement was quite big today, it was dusty to start and improved lap by lap, so I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow the order is different, but we’ve had worse Fridays, so I am happy. We need to keep working and improve a little bit overnight,” Vettel, the defending champion, said.
His team mate Mark Webber, whose late charge saw him shoot up to second position, said they have good information for the race.
“That went pretty well. I had a lock-up in Turn 1, which I could have done without, but it isn’t the end of the world. We got on with the important stuff, which is understanding the soft tyre on short and long runs. We’ll have a look where we can improve the car, you can always improve. The team is incredibly motivated and the drivers also,” he said.
Ferrari’s Alonso, who was behind the two Red Bull cars, said that FP2 was “difficult” after a good morning session.
“In the second one, when we switched from the hard to soft [tyres], the balance of the car was no longer the best and it was becoming very difficult to drive, to such an extent that I ended up spinning. Unfortunately, that damaged a tyre and so I was unable to do the work over a long run which had been one of our priorities,” the Spaniard said.
Meanwhile, McLaren Mercedes might not have the best of the free practice sessions on Friday, but drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have set their sights on a good qualifying session.
Both Button (1:27.182) and Hamilton (1:27.131) improved their FP1 timing in the afternoon but the two McLaren cars could still only set the sixth and seventh fastest times on the day.
However, Hamilton sounded optimistic and said with little bit of improvement, McLaren can match the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari at the second edition of the Indian Grand Prix over the weekend.
“It was not a positive day on my side, I wasn’t quick enough. It is looking quite good for Lotus and Red Bull. Our race pace is not that bad, but could have been better,” Hamilton said.
“Red Bull was just too quick. Red Bull is very hard to beat. Ferrari, Red Bull and Lotus are very quick in long runs but I think we are right there with them.
“The qualifying will be key. So it is going to be a very close race,” said the Briton, who is presently fourth in the driver’s standing.
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was struggling initially but made a move upward when he clocked 1:27.233 to be eighth. The German was 14th in FP1.
Paul di Resta was 11th in the second Sahara Force India car, just head of Sergio Perez, who did not take part in FP1 due to fever.
“It was my first experience of the Buddh circuit today and I have to say they have done a really nice job. There’s a good flow to the lap and the second sector is very technical and challenging,” Hulkenberg said.
Fellow German drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, who both drive for Mercedes, were not spectacular on track, but Rosberg did manage fourth in FP2, following his sixth place in FP1.
Schumacher was eighth in the first session, but could only manage 13th in the second. (PTI)