Fernando Alonso showed Ferrari’s improved pace at Silverstone was not a one-off caused by the temporary change in the diffuser rules.
Even with the cars back in their Valencia configuration, his practice pace suggests Ferrari can rival Red Bull this weekend.
This was only the second time this year Ferrari have been fastest in the first practice session – Red Bull have done so seven times.
Here’s all the data from the first practice session for the German Grand Prix.
Longest stint comparison
- Alonso did the fastest time of the session at the end of a seven-lap run, indicating he has more time in hand
- There was little in the way of long runs in first practice, aside from Pastor Maldonado, which partly explains his low place in the final times.
https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
Sebastian Vettel | 98.348 | 98.077 | 98.268 | 98.224 | 97.797 | 97.652 | 98.622 | 101.772 | ||||
Mark Webber | 98.542 | 97.806 | 97.799 | 97.49 | 100.886 | 97.566 | 98.045 | |||||
Lewis Hamilton | 98.567 | 93.799 | 99.984 | 94.332 | ||||||||
Jenson Button | 97.609 | 95.174 | 105.69 | 95.238 | ||||||||
Fernando Alonso | 95.595 | 96.279 | 97.793 | 102.778 | 105.636 | 109.21 | 91.894 | |||||
Felipe Massa | 96.947 | 96.089 | 102.106 | 95.309 | 94.782 | 97.496 | 94.742 | |||||
Michael Schumacher | 96.914 | 96.501 | 96.428 | 99.462 | ||||||||
Nico Rosberg | 100.678 | 95.829 | 97.018 | 96.81 | 98.082 | |||||||
Nick Heidfeld | 102.388 | 96.271 | 95.851 | 95.444 | ||||||||
Vitaly Petrov | 95.363 | 95.695 | 107.127 | 96.451 | 96.307 | |||||||
Rubens Barrichello | 105.999 | 101.036 | 99.33 | 105.425 | ||||||||
Pastor Maldonado | 99.919 | 98.046 | 98.133 | 97.733 | 97.947 | 98.158 | 98.928 | 97.688 | 97.602 | 97.544 | 97.715 | 99.112 |
Adrian Sutil | 94.096 | 93.832 | 102.221 | 94.579 | 94.591 | 95.133 | 97.879 | 95.486 | 94.907 | 96.389 | ||
Nico Hulkenberg | 94.671 | 93.858 | 97.434 | 93.933 | 94.557 | 95.029 | 94.416 | 96.743 | 94.864 | 95.462 | ||
Kamui Kobayashi | 101.074 | 100.502 | 98.266 | 97.737 | 103.967 | 97.262 | ||||||
Sergio Perez | 97.311 | 96.842 | 100.785 | 101.377 | 96.371 | |||||||
Sebastien Buemi | 99.558 | 98.513 | 97.259 | 97.627 | 102.894 | 96.922 | 96.931 | |||||
Jaime Alguersuari | 96.504 | 96.588 | 95.83 | 95.534 | 95.26 | 95.229 | ||||||
Heikki Kovalainen | 99.146 | 98.79 | 98.145 | 106.313 | 98.17 | 99.642 | 102.59 | 98.548 | 109.37 | |||
Karun Chandhok | 114.984 | 103.791 | 102.383 | 101.248 | 106.709 | 105.211 | ||||||
Daniel Ricciardo | 101.86 | 100.79 | 100.316 | 100.299 | 108.259 | 100.595 | 101.984 | 100.575 | ||||
Narain Karthikeyan | 105.211 | 102.35 | 101.389 | 100.76 | 100.407 | 102.173 | 101.226 | 100.118 | ||||
Timo Glock | 101.512 | 101.944 | 100.316 | 100.109 | ||||||||
Jerome d’Ambrosio | 105.348 | 103.141 | 102.377 | 101.426 | 100.428 |
Ultimate lap times
An ultimate lap is a driver’s fastest three sector times combined.
- On more than one occasion Alonso set an improved sector time before having to back off, and sure enough the ultimate lap time reflects he had at least another tenth of a second in hand.
- Karun Chandhok was some way off his team mate’s pace. Lotus said he “had traffic on his out lap and didn’t get the tyre heat where he wanted”.
Complete practice times
- Although we don’t know what test programmes they were running, Narain Karthikeyan will surely take some pleasure from beating Daniel Ricciardo by over six-tenths of a second.
- The Force Indias showed promising early pace, both drivers inside the top ten.
- While most of the fastest drivers set times using the development soft tyre, not everyone did: Nick Heidfeld and both Virgin drivers were among those who only ran on the medium tyre, which seems to be around a second per lap slower.
- Alonso’s best time gives a 107% time of 1’38.327, suggesting as many as five drivers may face problems in Q1.
Speed trap
- The Mercedes continue to show excellent straight-line speed
# | Driver | Car | Engine | Max speed | Gap | |
1 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | Mercedes | 308 | |
2 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | Mercedes | 306.1 | 1.9 |
3 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | Mercedes | 304.8 | 3.2 |
4 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | Renault | 302.4 | 5.6 |
5 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | Renault | 302 | 6 |
6 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Ferrari | 301.9 | 6.1 |
7 | 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | Mercedes | 301.2 | 6.8 |
8 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Ferrari | 301 | 7 |
9 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | Ferrari | 300.4 | 7.6 |
10 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Renault | 300 | 8 |
11 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | Mercedes | 299.8 | 8.2 |
12 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | Renault | 297.4 | 10.6 |
13 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 296.8 | 11.2 |
14 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | Ferrari | 296.3 | 11.7 |
15 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren | Mercedes | 296.1 | 11.9 |
16 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | Renault | 295.9 | 12.1 |
17 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | Cosworth | 295.1 | 12.9 |
18 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso | Ferrari | 295 | 13 |
19 | 25 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Virgin | Cosworth | 294.9 | 13.1 |
20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin | Cosworth | 292.7 | 15.3 |
21 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT | Cosworth | 292.5 | 15.5 |
22 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | Cosworth | 291.6 | 16.4 |
23 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | Cosworth | 290.7 | 17.3 |
24 | 21 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus | Renault | 288.2 | 19.8 |
2011 German Grand Prix
Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
daykind (@)
22nd July 2011, 11:35
What is the point in putting Karthikeyan in? It wasn’t a performance test for him, he’s not driving until India. And surely Liuzzi needs track time, he didn;t drive there in 2009.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
22nd July 2011, 12:16
Yeah I didn’t get that. Is it just a one off? Or is he racing?
streetfightingman
22nd July 2011, 12:20
What’s the point in anything HRT does?
L Watts
22nd July 2011, 12:31
I understand your point but someone’s got to be last for sure. Take out the slowest and then what? Take out the next slowest? I think HRT just about make it on safety grounds so maybe they deserve a chance :-)
Todfod
22nd July 2011, 13:11
Completely agree. Logic is something HRT is clearly against
Paulipedia
22nd July 2011, 14:39
You could have said that about Minardi but look where they are now, they have morphed into Torro Rosso.
Everyone needs to start somewhere!
Girts
22nd July 2011, 12:35
I guess Karthikeyan’s agreement with HRT probably guarantees him at least participation in FP1 in case somebody else gets the race driver’s seat. Or maybe Karthikeyan has run out of money and now can afford only FP1 :) Anyhow, I believe this has something to to with the sponsorhip.
Douglas 62500
22nd July 2011, 12:56
Yeah I guess thats’ to keep Tata happy ?
Alex Bkk
22nd July 2011, 11:46
Best lap Ferrari 1’31.782
Worst lap Virgin 1’40.428
an 8.534 sec difference… Incredible!
Fixy (@)
22nd July 2011, 11:53
Sauber are always low down in practice. Hopefully they can improve by Saturday.
Alex Bkk
22nd July 2011, 12:05
Always my favourite midfield team. But its been their status for so many years. What they need is a big budget and someone like Newey. I’d love to see them do a Brawn Racing just once.
Franton
22nd July 2011, 12:01
It’s a bit early to read anything from P1 surely Keith? Weren’t they running Pirelli’s new experimental tyres which throws yet another variable in the mix? It’s usually P2 and P3 that shows true pace IMO.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd July 2011, 12:04
Based on what we’ve seen so far I’m comfortable with what I’ve written.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd July 2011, 15:00
Actually I think the fact they had an extra set of fast tyres helped as almost everyone went on to put them to good use.
Normally FP1 has the odd car on softs but most on harder tyres for big part of the session, doing all sort of things. This time it was pretty much on pace all the way and offered a good look at where everyone is about.
Cornflakes
22nd July 2011, 12:17
Remember when Williams were good? :(
Alex Bkk
22nd July 2011, 12:20
Did you mean “great”? :)
Burnout (@burnout)
22nd July 2011, 14:09
I think he means “not last among the established teams”. I can’t believe it’s been almost 3 seasons since their last podium finish (albeit under Crashgate).
Ritesh (@rits)
22nd July 2011, 12:18
I agree, and really hope, that Ferrari can take a fight to Red Bull here. I’m no fan of Ferrari but I do like Alonso, but irrespective of any of that, I just want some challenging racing, the Red Bull domination was becoming too predictable and boring. I do not want to go back to the early 2000s!
On another note, glad to see Karun back in the car, hope he does well for whatever that can achieve. Putting Karthikeyan in that car is just to please the sponsors and quite simply, the HRT driver shuffling circus is becoming annoying and pointless.
Btw, does anyone else here think there’s still a chance for the driver’s title to go to someone other than “finger boy”?
Also, Keith, do you know if Ferrari have brought in the new rear suspension this weekend?
Alex Bkk
22nd July 2011, 12:27
Nope.
Girts
22nd July 2011, 12:44
According to the old points system, Vettel is now leading the championship by more than 30 points. I guess noone in F1 history has been able to recover such a deficit and become a champion. For sure, everything can happen but it seems very very unlikely.
Tom11 (@tom11)
22nd July 2011, 12:20
I 100% agree.
I believe Ferrari is the fastest car right now actually. I don’t think its fastest by a huge RBR like margin, but a few tenths defiantly.
Its a bit too soon to be getting excited after one Practice session, but the fastest car with the best driver is a good combination for Fernando.
Alex Bkk
22nd July 2011, 12:33
If the top 4 for Q3 were to stack up this way… would we say that that the Ferrari is faster than the RB, that Massa is underachieving, or that Alonso is getting more out of the Ferrari than the car has to give?
BBT (@bbt)
22nd July 2011, 12:58
That is impossible but I know what you mean. Put say Massa and Button in the Ferrari and we would be saying the car is 2nd or 3rd fastest.
evolunit_X (@)
22nd July 2011, 15:39
yea… i think good driver can make around 0.5 sec(pure guess) difference per lap against not so good driver and thats what can team move up or down in order
sato113 (@sato113)
22nd July 2011, 12:38
there’s straight line speed, and then there’s DRS straight line speed.
DRS- Mercedes we know is fastest.
Non DRS- it is often cited that the Mclarens and Renaults are naturally fast in a straight line.
BBT (@bbt)
22nd July 2011, 13:00
Mclaren are not fast in any line at the moment.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd July 2011, 14:50
Just so much interesting data.
zimbo 1
22nd July 2011, 14:56
FIRE MARTIN WITMARSH!!!
Can this happen already??? Now McLaren is third fastest if not fourth. This dip in performance is unacceptable to say the least.
FIRE MARTIN WITMARSH!!!
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd July 2011, 15:02
a bit over the top maybe?
sato113 (@sato113)
22nd July 2011, 18:10
succinct, and to the point.
Chris
23rd July 2011, 0:10
I don’t think firing whitmarsh will give the car more downforce, I maybe wrong.
Guerra
22nd July 2011, 15:29
“Alonso did the fastest time of the session (at the) end of a seven-lap run…………..” You really need to start proof reading your typing if people are really going to take you seriously, Keith. Its just annoying to try and read. I know one ones perfect but… as a journalist you should at least try to be.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd July 2011, 15:41
What a ridiculous over-reaction to a minor typo. I’m perfectly happy to correct errors when they’re pointed out but most people manage to draw attention to them without such a bad attitude.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd July 2011, 16:25
Absolutely one ones never perfect.
airtone
22nd July 2011, 17:15
@Guerra
“Its just annoying to try and read.” You might want to know that the correct spelling is “It’s just annoying” (and I’m not even a native speaker).
Why don’t you proof read your own comments before making yourself a fool?
Guerra
22nd July 2011, 15:49
Sorry theres no bad attitude in that all. I honestly see these little mistakes all the time and it really annoys me. I’m telling you how it is straight off the bat with no sugar baby. Don’t get all uppity n hippity at me. It’s not my site and i don’t know you from a bar of soap. You judge my attitude by type, you put your type out there and (you presume i judge) make minor typo mistakes and I honestly believe you should involve another person to do your proofing. I like this site, i want it to improve…. Its all good in my hood baby.
NJB
22nd July 2011, 18:38
Your entire post is an abuse of the english language.
electrolite (@electrolite)
22nd July 2011, 21:05
electrolite (@electrolite)
22nd July 2011, 21:06
Oh dear, that blockquote fail didn’t however…