Unsurprisingly the story of the day was the superior speed of the Williams, Brawn and Toyota teams which are all running the controversial diffuser (that was cleared by the stewards after hours of deliberation yesterday but still under appeal).

Perhaps the only surprise was that it was the Williams’ of Rosberg and not one of the two Brawn GP drivers that topped the timesheet in Free Practice 1 and 2. Williams seemed to have the upper hand with Nakajima also running strong in both sessions. Even more scarily for their rivals though, was the fact that both cars set their times on the harder of the two new slick compounds which Bridgestone has made available to the teams in Australia. 

Kimi Raikkonen who was one of the first cars to hit the track for a timed lap this season and finished third fastest for Ferrari in session 1. He had dominated the top slot for much of the 90 minutes. Unfortunately with the cooler track temperatures due to the later start time, session two was a different story with Kimi struggling to make it to 11th and running of the circuit more than once. It looks like the 2007 champion may have a lot of work to do to make it through to Q3 tomorrow.

Frustratingly for the fans (both at the circuit and those who were up in the early hours to watch ) it was a very quiet start  with almost no running at all in the first 30 minutes of opening practice, apart the initial installation laps and some needed running for this year’s sole rookie Sebastien Buemi. Session Two provided more action but it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season.

Sadly it will be the FIA’s new engine rules to blame , with the drivers only able to use eight engines during this season’s 17 events, that now includes Fridays sessions. The teams must focus on conserving these engines so as to not fall fowl of this rule and receive any hefty 10 place grid plenatlies. 

Many of the drivers had moments during these practice sessions (including Alonso, Massa, Raikkonen & Hamilton), as they struggled to match the pace of the seemingly new order of top teams (Williams, Toyota & Brawn GP).

The only real incidents  however where a puncture for Nakajima in FP1 , while Red Bull’s  Vettel stopped early-on on-track with a hydraulic problem in FP1 and then spun in FP2  after putting a wheel on the grass whilst braking for Turn 4. 

Free Practice One Times

Pos  Driver       Team                      Time              Laps
 1.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:26.687           19
 2.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:26.736 + 0.049   21
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B) 1:26.750 + 0.063   24
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:27.226 + 0.539   21
 5.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:27.453 + 0.766   15
 6.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:27.467 + 0.780   12
 7.  Massa        Ferrari               (B) 1:27.642 + 0.955   24
 8.  Glock        Toyota                (B) 1:27.710 + 1.023   24
 9.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:27.993 + 1.306   20
10.  Alonso       Renault               (B) 1:28.123 + 1.436   16
11.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber            (B) 1:28.137 + 1.450   20
12.  Trulli       Toyota                (B) 1:28.142 + 1.455   21
13.  Kubica       BMW Sauber            (B) 1:28.511 + 1.824   22
14.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:28.603 + 1.916   16
15.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:28.785 + 2.098   27
16.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:29.042 + 2.355   18
17.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:29.081 + 2.394    7
18.  Piquet       Renault               (B) 1:29.461 + 2.774   25
19.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:29.499 + 2.812   21
20.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:32.784 + 6.097    4

Free Practice Two Times

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:26.053            36
 2.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:26.157  + 0.104   38
 3.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:26.350  + 0.297   42
 4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:26.370  + 0.317   30
 5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:26.374  + 0.321   38
 6.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:26.443  + 0.390   42
 7.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:26.560  + 0.507   33
 8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:26.740  + 0.687   19
 9.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:27.040  + 0.987   29
10.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:27.064  + 1.011   35
11.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:27.204  + 1.151   32
12.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:27.232  + 1.179   28
13.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:27.282  + 1.229   32
14.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:27.317  + 1.264   34
15.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:27.398  + 1.345   36
16.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:27.479  + 1.426   36
17.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:27.802  + 1.749   35
18.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:27.813  + 1.760   31
19.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:27.828  + 1.775   35
20.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:28.076  + 2.023   33

All timing unofficial

Jemela Coventry - GoKimi Team

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