Chinese Grand Prix – Final Practice Results

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Friday may not have been ideal for Kimi, Romain and the E20s, but Lotus F1 Team bounced back with an improved performance during the final practice session on Saturday morning, with attention now turning to qualifying this afternoon.

With plenty of work left to do after a disappointing first day at the Shanghai International Circuit, Romain and Kimi departed their respective garages in flying formation moments after the green lights went out to ensure maximum track time before qualifying.

With their install laps and oil dips complete, both drivers returned to the pits for a short break while the team analysed the initial data to ensure everything was in order. 12 minutes into the session, Kimi once again followed Romain out onto the track with both remaining on the white marked medium tyres – a fresh set for Romain, and scrubbed set for Kimi.

A more encouraging start to the day saw both drivers sitting inside the top 10 as they brought the E20s home once more with the midway stage of the session approaching – Romain having completed 7 laps overall and Kimi a total of 6 after the first stint.

The warmer conditions allowed the team to gain a better idea of how the upgrades were affecting performance after an inconclusive day’s work with the new parts on Friday, hence the decision to remain with a similar set-up to yesterday throughout the morning.

Almost exactly halfway through proceedings, the next stints were underway for Kimi and Romain. Both were clearly pushing hard to find the limits of the E20s around the track, with Kimi sending sparks flying from the kerbs on the exit of the final turn, and Romain having a half spin in turn 2 as he explored the boundaries of grip from the Pirelli tyres.

With 12 and 10 laps down overall for Romain and Kimi respectively, the third and final run of the session saw the day’s first appearance from the yellow marked soft compound tyres. This time it was the Finn’s turn to lead the Frenchman out onto the circuit with 10 minutes remaining.

After abandoning his first lap following a slide in the first sector, Kimi promptly put his E20 firmly inside the top 10 with his second attempt, improving by almost 7 tenths of a second. Romain meanwhile continued his learning experience at the track, putting together a solid string of laps at an impressively similar pace to his more experienced team mate.

Practice pit stops and a final oil dip rounded off the morning for the drivers, as Kimi ended the session in P10 with a best time of 1:37.061 from 17 laps, with Romain close behind in P12 after setting a fastest time of 1:37.274 from 19 laps.

Pos--Driver---------------Team-------------------Time---------------Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m35.940s            13
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m36.093s  + 0.123   12
 3.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m36.389s  + 0.449   16
 4.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m36.512s  + 0.572   17
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m36.635s  + 0.695   16
 6.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m36.765s  + 0.825   17
 7.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m36.781s  + 0.841   19
 8.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m36.880s  + 0.940   17
 9.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m37.039s  + 1.099   15
10.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m37.061s  + 1.121   17
11.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m37.237s  + 1.297   16
12.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m37.274s  + 1.334   19
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m37.288s  + 1.348   16
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m37.425s  + 1.485   14
15.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m37.465s  + 1.525   12
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m37.493s  + 1.553   13
17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m37.628s  + 1.688   14
18.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m37.831s  + 1.891   14
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m38.701s  + 2.761   19
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m39.198s  + 3.258   19
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m39.796s  + 3.856   18
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m40.048s  + 4.108   17
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m41.263s  + 5.323   14
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m41.499s  + 5.559   18

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