McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton led the way in free practice for Sunday’s China grand prix, although the day was overshadowed by a high-speed accident suffered by Sebastien Buemi.
A failure of the front right upright on Buemi’s Toro Rosso pitched him into the barriers at turn 14 in the day’s first practice session; the upright was a new design introduced this weekend and the team has reverted back to the old design for the rest of the weekend.
See pictures from China, including the aftermath of Buemi's crash
Hamilton’s time of 1:35.217 was 0.248secs faster than Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and his McLaren team mate Jenson Button was a further tenth of a second behind.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso suffered another engine failure in the morning’s first session; he has now used two of his allocation of eight for the season the reaming six will have to last 16 more grand prix including this weekend’s.
Button was fastest in first free practice, ahead of Rosberg and Hamilton.
Meanwhile, Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed there will be 20 races on next season’s F1 calendar. That’s one more race than this season: India will host its first race in 2011.
Second free practice times:
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.217
2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:35.465 +0.248
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.593 +0.376
4. Schumacher Mercedes 1:35.602 +0.385
5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:35.791 +0.574
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:35.995 +0.778
7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:36.254 +1.037
8. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.377 +1.160
9. Kubica Renault 1:36.389 +1.172
10. Alonso Ferrari 1:36.604 +1.387
11. Massa Ferrari 1:36.944 +1.727
12. Petrov Renault 1:36.986 +1.769
13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:37.421 +2.204
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:37.431 +2.214
15. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:37.657 +2.440
16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:37.804 +2.587
17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:37.867 +2.650
18. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:39.624 +4.407
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:39.947 +4.730
20. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:40.233 +5.016
21. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:41.008 +5.791
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:41.107 +5.890
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:41.345 +6.128
24. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari
