UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Sutil upsets the form book

Bahrain first practice

Anyone looking for pointers to the true order in F1 would have been left confused after the opening 90 minutes at Bahrain, for the fastest time of the session – 1:56.583 – was set by Adrian Sutil in the Force India.

Last year’s most improved team may have hit the ground running in this first session but there is clearly more to come from the bigger teams, with Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes taking things easy this morning.

There is some controversy, too, over what is being called the ‘F Duct’ system on the McLaren, an aerodynamic tweak that involves deliberate ‘stalling’ of the rear wing by way of complex channelling of air, with Renault boss Bob Bell now pitching in and complaining that it is illegal.

Second fastest time of the session– just two tenths behind Sutil – went to Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard making his race weekend debut for Ferrari, with Robert Kubica posting another surprise in third for Renault.

Felipe Massa, Ferrari, set the fourth fastest time to head the McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, while Tonio Liuzzi confirmed Force India’s promising form with seventh position, ahead of Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, Mark Webber’s Red Bull and the second Mercedes of Michael Schumacher, the seven times world champion bedding himself in slowly at his new team.

Much of the talk regarding the potential of the Williams and Sauber teams came to nothing this morning; for the former Nico Hulkenberg was 12th fastest – a commendable effort on his F1 debut – and Rubens Barrichello 15th, and for Sauber Pedro de La Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi could only manage 17th and 18th positions, with neither making it below the two minute lap mark.

The Toro Rosso pair went about their business systematically and the session ended with Jaime Alguersuari a quietly confident 11th and Sebastien Buemi 14th.

Many observers will have been watching for progress from the new teams, and it was Timo Glock in the Virgin Racing car who set the best time of the three debut outfits. Notably, his time of 2:03.680 was just over seven seconds slower than that of pace setter Sutil. Glock only managed eight laps during the session, in contrast to the Lotus pair of Heikki Kovalainen, with 21 laps, and Jarno Trulli with 15, who followed him on the time sheets with similar times.

Lucas di Grassi managed two laps in the Virgin but didn’t set a time and Bruno Senna toured the circuit three times in the HRT while team mate Karun Chandhok’s car was still being put together.

Written: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:55:07