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Webber in early form, McLarens keep pace
Source: Agencies |
April 9, 2011, Saturday
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RED Bull's Mark Webber continued to set the pace in practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday, the Australian setting the fastest time in both sessions around a sweltering Sepang circuit in Kuala Lumpur.
Webber endured a disappointing season-opening race in Melbourne, finishing well behind teammate Sebastian Vettel down in fifth place, but made good on his promise to arrive in Malaysia with a far more competitive car.
After topping the timesheets by 1.665 seconds in the morning, Webber made light of an on-track temperature of 49 degrees Celsius to record a fastest lap of one minute, 36.876 seconds in the afternoon.
"We look okay obviously but it's still early days in the weekend," Webber told reporters. "We got some good dry running in and the car performed well, obviously it is reliable which is always a nice bonus."
However, Red Bull's closest title rival McLaren will take heart from the fact both its cars finished within 0.134 seconds of Webber in the faster second practice session.
Jenson Button, winner of this race on his way to the world title in 2009, was just five thousandths of a second behind the Australian and may have gone quicker had he not wobbled slightly on the final turn before the home straight.
"Yeah we found it a little bit difficult this morning as conditions are very different to what we are used to," Button said. "I think we changed direction with the car after Melbourne to stop the issues we had there and it's very different here."
Fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton, who was second fastest in the morning, was a further 0.129 seconds back in third place, just ahead of reigning world champion Vettel.
The top four appeared far more comfortable with the testing conditions around the demanding Sepang circuit as the best of the rest, Michael Schumacher, labored almost a second behind Vettel down in fifth place.
Ferrari had a poor race in Melbourne after impressing in preseason testing and the Italian team's lack of pace looks set to hamper its chances this weekend as Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were never a threat to the leaders. Brazil's Massa was sixth in both sessions while his Spanish teammate Alonso fared even worse, creeping into the top 10 each time with laps hardly likely to cause the frontrunners to lose any sleep.
Webber endured a disappointing season-opening race in Melbourne, finishing well behind teammate Sebastian Vettel down in fifth place, but made good on his promise to arrive in Malaysia with a far more competitive car.
After topping the timesheets by 1.665 seconds in the morning, Webber made light of an on-track temperature of 49 degrees Celsius to record a fastest lap of one minute, 36.876 seconds in the afternoon.
"We look okay obviously but it's still early days in the weekend," Webber told reporters. "We got some good dry running in and the car performed well, obviously it is reliable which is always a nice bonus."
However, Red Bull's closest title rival McLaren will take heart from the fact both its cars finished within 0.134 seconds of Webber in the faster second practice session.
Jenson Button, winner of this race on his way to the world title in 2009, was just five thousandths of a second behind the Australian and may have gone quicker had he not wobbled slightly on the final turn before the home straight.
"Yeah we found it a little bit difficult this morning as conditions are very different to what we are used to," Button said. "I think we changed direction with the car after Melbourne to stop the issues we had there and it's very different here."
Fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton, who was second fastest in the morning, was a further 0.129 seconds back in third place, just ahead of reigning world champion Vettel.
The top four appeared far more comfortable with the testing conditions around the demanding Sepang circuit as the best of the rest, Michael Schumacher, labored almost a second behind Vettel down in fifth place.
Ferrari had a poor race in Melbourne after impressing in preseason testing and the Italian team's lack of pace looks set to hamper its chances this weekend as Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were never a threat to the leaders. Brazil's Massa was sixth in both sessions while his Spanish teammate Alonso fared even worse, creeping into the top 10 each time with laps hardly likely to cause the frontrunners to lose any sleep.
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