Kubica fastest in first practice at Melbourne
Rosberg second fastest, Button third
Renault’s Robert Kubica has topped the timesheets in the first free practice session for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.
The Pole clocked a best time of 1:26.927, beating by 0.199 seconds Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg (1:27.126) and by 0.555 McLaren’s Jenson Button (1:27.482).
Fourth fastest time for Ferrari’s Felipe Massa (1:27.511), followed by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel (1:27.686), team-mate Fernando Alonso (1:27.747), McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton (1:27.793), Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi (1:28.014), Renault’s Vitaly Petrov (1:28.11) and Force India’s Tonio Liuzzi (1:28.192).
Force India’s test driver Paul di Resta took Adrian Sutil’s car for the first practice and clocked the 11th time (1:28.537) ahead of Michael Schumacher (1:28.550), Jaime Alguersuari (1:28.572) and local hero Mark Webber (1:28.683).
Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi caused two red flags. The first one after hitting the marker cone at Turn 11 damaging his front wing and the second after loosing the new front wing while braking at turn 3.
2010 Australian Grand Prix, First free Practice results:
| Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:26.927 | 22 | |
| 2 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | 1:27.126 | 0.199 | 18 |
| 3 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:27.482 | 0.555 | 22 |
| 4 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:27.511 | 0.584 | 18 |
| 5 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:27.686 | 0.759 | 23 |
| 6 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:27.747 | 0.820 | 21 |
| 7 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:27.793 | 0.866 | 22 |
| 8 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:28.014 | 1.087 | 21 |
| 9 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:28.114 | 1.187 | 25 |
| 10 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:28.192 | 1.265 | 18 |
| 11 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:28.537 | 1.610 | 25 |
| 12 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes Benz GP Ltd | 1:28.550 | 1.623 | 19 |
| 13 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:28.572 | 1.645 | 21 |
| 14 | 6 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:28.683 | 1.756 | 22 |
| 15 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:29.465 | 2.538 | 13 |
| 16 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:29.712 | 2.785 | 18 |
| 17 | 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:30.249 | 3.322 | 26 |
| 18 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 1:31.588 | 4.661 | 5 |
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:31.652 | 4.725 | 13 |
| 20 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:31.654 | 4.727 | 26 |
| 21 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:32.831 | 5.904 | 25 |
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:33.401 | 6.474 | 24 |
| 23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1:34.251 | 7.324 | 19 |
| 24 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:34.925 | 7.998 | 8 |
Image © Renault F1/LAT
2014 F1 Australian Grand Prix
2014 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix Results