2009 Singapore Grand Prix: Friday practice round-up, 55 images!

Posted by Harvinder

September 26, 2009

The 2009 Formula 1 circus had its first two practice sessions for the Singapore Grand Prix and here is the round up. Fresh from the 1-2 victory in Italy, both the Brawn drivers were on top for the first practice session for Friday. Just like the win two weeks ago, Rubens Barrrichello was in front of championship leading team mate Jenson Button. Third fastest time went to Red Bull’s Australian driver Mark Webber, who came to Singapore without a manager, as his former manager, Flavio Briatore has been permanently banned from Formula 1. Fernando Alonso from Renault (which lost two sponsors) was fourth, ahead of Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull.

Heikki Kovalainen and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton, both from McLaren, filled up sixth and seventh places. Robert Kubica (BMW), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) made up the rest of the top ten. Force India drivers were out of the top ten, as Adrian Sutil was 12th and his team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi was down in 18th. Ferrari’s new Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella was 17th fastest. Highlights of the session, included a spin by Renault’s Romain Grosjean, which forced him to hit the “Piquet wall” (where Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed his Renault last year) – ironic?

Kovalainen also suffered from a 180-degree spin, which is pretty normal, since the track was slippery, as it was the first session of the weekend. The fastest lap, 1 min 50.179 seconds was set by Barrichello while the slowest, 1 min 53.458 seconds was logged in by Grosjean. Lap times dropped for the second session. Sebastian Vettel was the fastest, with a 1 min 48.650 seconds lap time. Alonso was second fastest followed by Heikki Kovalainen, Nick Heidfeld (BMW), Jenson Button and Mark Webber. Unfortunately for Webber, he had an accident after exiting the final corner.

The Red Bull driver sustained damage on the left-front of his car. The rest of the top ten were taken up by Williams’ Nico Rosberg, Toyota’s Timo Glock, Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica. Raikkonen and Fisichella were 14th and 16th respectively. Rubens Barrichello, who was fastest in the first session, settled for 11th. Adrian Sutil was 12th and team mate Liuzzi maintained the same position in 18th. The slowest driver was Jaime Alguersuari, with a time of 1 min 51.423 seconds. There will be a final practice session tomorrow, before the qualifying round. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, continue reading to enjoy 55 images of both the sessions.