As with all free practice sessions times must be taken with a healthy pinch of salt. For example, the two McLarens came in 4th (Lewis) and 7th (Button) in their overall times but they weren't using the DRS and were testing a new high downforce wing - the two times are therefore relatively redundant from analysis. Of the front runners Button did only 16 laps, while Petrov only did 20. The others were all into the low to mid 20's.
The only driver to do less laps than Button was Nico Hulkenburg who crashed Di Resta's Force India out on track on lap 8.
Vettel ended the session down in 16th place with 23 laps done - I wonder what he was doing? He did a 10 lap stint on the medium tyres.
Could it be that Webbo was using fully open exhaust engine mapping while Vettel was checking out the 10% rule? Just kidding - particularly given that the two Renaults were up in 2nd (Petrov) and 5th (Heidfeld).
The times seemed to drop off towards the end of the session as the air and track temperatures began to rise. A lot of the early part of the session was spent cleaning the track and particularly the racing line of dust, dirt, and debris.
Webbo first, Petrov Second, and Alonso third, Hamo, Heid, Mass, Butt, Sutil.
No Di Resta, No Trulli
