Abu Dhabi GP – Free Practice 1: Vergne 11th, Grosjean 12th ahead of Petrov

It is under a track heated to 41°C by a beautiful sun that these first free practice sessions of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will take place, a session that will see two French drivers on the track, Jean-Eric Vergne in place of Sebastian Buemi at Toro Rosso and Romain Grosjean in the Lotus Renault GP of Bruno Senna. At Virgin, Canadian Robert Wickens is rewarded by Marussia for his title in the World Series by Renault and participates in this first session in place of Belgian D’Ambrosio.

The drivers head out as soon as the session opens to perform their customary installation laps. A few minutes later, Romain Grosjean is the first to set a time of 1:50.375, which he notably improves on the next lap. But on his first flying lap, Lewis Hamilton takes the top spot with a 1:43.899 on medium tires, the hardest compound offered by Pirelli this weekend.

Rubens Barrichello, set to start a stint, will not record a single timed lap in this session as he stops his car due to an oil pressure problem on the roadside. Meanwhile, at Sauber, the mechanics are dismantling the rear of Kamui Kobayashi’s car, who detected a gearbox problem on his installation lap.

After half an hour of trials, only 7 drivers have a timed lap, with Hamilton leading Maldonado, Kovalainen, Grosjean, Alguersuari, Ricciardo, and Liuzzi.

But the other drivers are quick to take to the track, with Jean-Eric Vergne moving up to third place before his teammate, Jaime Alguersuari, joins the frontrunners in second position. A few seconds later, Sebastian Vettel, on his first timed lap, slots between Hamilton’s McLaren and the Toro Rosso driver. The German double world champion then claims the best time a few laps later with a 1:41.820, but quickly loses it to Mark Webber before Button has the last word, becoming the first driver to go under the one-minute forty-one-second mark on soft tires. As the second third of the session nears its end, Hamilton regains the top spot on the time sheet with a 1:40.466, also on soft tires.

Very discreet until now, the Ferraris finally show themselves, first thanks to Felipe Massa who loses control of his car on the curb at the first turn, under the eyes of Kamui Kobayashi back on track after his mechanics finished repairing his car. A few moments later, it’s Alonso’s turn to make a mistake approaching the chicane, his car getting away from him, just like his teammate, by touching the white line: the 150° Italia seems to lack rear downforce, similar to the Team Lotus T128.

After more than an hour of testing, the two McLaren drivers are at the forefront, with Hamilton ahead of Button. They are followed by Vettel, Webber, Massa, Rosberg, Alonso, Alguersuari, Maldonado, and Schumacher. In twelfth place, Jean-Eric Vergne is 1.2 seconds behind his teammate, while Romain Grosjean, in fourteenth, is ahead of Petrov, but the Russian has only completed 7 laps.

As Jenson Button’s signboard indicated the time of his teammate to beat, the 2009 world champion didn’t hesitate and recorded a better time than Hamilton: 1:40.263.

If the session decreases in intensity as it approaches the final rush, Romain Grosjean significantly improves his best lap and climbs into the Top 10, in eighth place, with a time of 1:42.685. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso seems quite annoyed by the behavior of his car, which regularly threatens to slip away: tired, the Spaniard doesn’t hesitate to cut the corner at the end of the long straight and heads back to the garages.

As the drivers exert their last efforts at the end of this session, Jean-Eric Vergne clocks a lap time of 1:42.649, placing him in a provisional 8th position and thus knocking Alguersuari out of the Top 10. However, the Spaniard returns the favor to the Frenchman a few minutes later. Romain Grosjean, in 12th, is ahead of Petrov, in 13th, and will remain so at the checkered flag since the Russian’s R31 heads to the pits, with the driver urgently exiting his car as smoke and sparks fly from the pontoon entry, precisely where the exhaust exits.

The McLaren drivers, on medium tires, are unlikely to improve their times while Red Bull sends Mark Webber back on track with soft tires, but the Australian can only position himself between Button’s and Hamilton’s cars. The 2009 world champion thus maintains the lead on the time sheets ahead of Webber, Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, and Massa. At the back of the pack, as in the Indian Grand Prix, the two HRT cars are ahead of their Virgin rivals.

Free Practice 1 Classification of the 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: