Indian GP – Free Practice 1: Hamilton Ahead, Red Bull on the Hunt

As soon as the green light is triggered, the drivers set off to explore this new track, on a logically still very green track, heated to 29°C, under a timid sun. Karun Chandhok, replacing Heïkki Kovalainen in the Team Lotus T128 seat for this first session, is the first to set the stopwatch, establishing the first mark at 1:52.148 as a new dog appears on the track, systematically triggering a brief red flag: indeed, a few minutes before the start of the session, the marshals already had to deal with two other dogs wandering on the track.

At the restart, the drivers who have not yet taken to the track complete their installation laps. However, it takes a good twenty minutes before Narain Karthikeyan, who will compete in the Grand Prix in place of Vitantonio Liuzzi with HRT, posts a time of 1:45.906. The Indian driver is quickly outpaced by his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, while many drivers and cars display various tributes in memory of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli, who passed away in competitions over the previous two weekends.

Michael Schumacher, under the watchful eye of his brother Ralf, is the first of the top drivers to start his stopwatch and set an initial time of 1:38.658, which he improves by a full four seconds on the next lap, getting closer to the predictions made by Red Bull for a lap time around one minute 24 in qualifying.

After half an hour of trials, the session livens up somewhat, with Rosberg and Alguersuari taking turns at the top of the timesheet. In his first timed lap, Mark Webber, who will benefit, if necessary, from team orders in his favor to secure second place in the driver standings, climbs to the 8th provisional position in these trials.

If, as the drivers pass by, the racing line disappears, the slightest mistake will throw them off track due to lack of grip, especially in the tricky section between turns 5 and 6. Midway through the session, Button is in the lead ahead of Alguersuari, Buemi, Webber, Di Resta, Maldonado, Sutil, Rosberg, Schumacher, and Kobayashi.

Jenson Button is the first driver to go under the minute 30 mark on soft tires. Exceptionally, for this Grand Prix, the drivers have more sets of soft tires than hard tires, although for qualifying and the race, each will still have three new sets of tires for each type of compound.

In the slipstream behind his teammate, Michael Schumacher moves back to the top of the provisional standings, the German improving with a 1:28.656 in the next lap.

A few moments later, a premature end to the session awaits Fernando Alonso, whose car emits a harsh noise. On the radio, the Spaniard is ordered to stop on the side of the track as soon as possible, likely to preserve his engine. His teammate, Felipe Massa, meanwhile moves up to the second position, from which he is displaced a few minutes later by Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, which sports Bob Marley’s portrait on the top of his helmet.

The McLaren drivers further confirm their form by taking turns achieving the fastest time, with Hamilton being the first to go under one minute 28 seconds. Previously discreet, the Red Bull team steps up, with Mark Webber succeeding Sebastian Vettel for second place, the RB7 particularly excelling in the final sector. The Australian eventually beats Lewis Hamilton’s time but is displaced from the top of the timesheet by his teammate, with a time of 1:27.416.

In the pit lane, a big scare for Pastor Maldonado and Karun Chandhok: as he was leaving his spot, the Indian driver lost grip and skidded sideways, narrowly avoiding a collision with the Venezuelan’s Williams.

On the track, a spectacular image of the front wing of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari vibrating intensely to the point of sparking as it grazes the ground at high speed. Moments later, at the entrance of the big loop, Jaime Alguersuari crashes his car into the barrier: session over for the Spaniard, while the same fate awaits Pastor Maldonado who stops his car on the side, with a broken engine.

Very fast in the first two sectors, Lewis Hamilton, however, cannot achieve a timed lap, hindered by the yellow flag raised for the removal of Pastor Maldonado’s car. The Englishman, however, climbs to the top of the timesheet under the checkered flag. The McLaren driver thus outpaces the Red Bull drivers and his teammate, Jenson Button, at the end of this first free practice session.

Free Practice 1 Results of the 2011 Indian Grand Prix: