Ferrari on top in rain-hit first practice session

2013 Spanish Grand Prix first practice

Posted on

| Written by

Fernando Alonso headed a Ferrari one-two in a rain-hit first practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix.

With most teams bringing a significant batch of upgrades to test and Pirelli supplying an extra set of slick tyres to increase running a busy first practice session was in the offing.

Unfortunately the weather chose not to co-operate. Morning rain lingered at the track and the circuit was wet as the session began.

That did not discourage teams from running entirely but it wasn’t until the final quarter of an hour that the track was sufficiently dry for slicks to be used.

The session ended with a frenzy of laps which saw the lap times tumble. But Alonso was always at or near the top and his final effort secured the quickest time. Massa, despite sliding off into the gravel at turn seven on an earlier lap, backed up his effort with the second-best time.

Jean-Eric Vergne, who’d been the first driver to risk slick tyres, ended up third quickest despite going off at the chicane.

The Lotus of Romain Grosjean was fourth – he’d also gone off during the session, losing the back of the car under braking for La Caixa and arriving at the corner backwards.

A late effort from Adrian Sutil but him fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas gave Williams some encouragement with seventh, followed by fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen. Nico Rosberg and Paul di Resta completed the top ten.

McLaren, who were especially in need of the dry running, left Jenson Button in the garage until the dying moments. He began his first flying lap seconds before the chequered flag came out, but aborted it and returned to the pits. Team mate Sergio Perez was 13th.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
13Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’25.25220
24Felipe MassaFerrari1’25.4550.20320
318Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’25.6670.41525
48Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’26.0420.79021
515Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’26.2120.96024
610Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’26.3741.12219
717Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’26.4561.20420
87Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’26.6141.36221
99Nico RosbergMercedes1’26.6211.36921
1014Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’26.7551.50316
1119Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’26.9401.68826
1211Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’27.0611.80924
136Sergio PerezMcLaren1’27.1351.8836
1412Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’27.2501.99826
1516Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’27.5762.32424
1620Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1’28.3733.12114
1721Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’28.6003.34819
1822Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’28.8873.63514
191Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’29.4574.20511
202Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’29.4734.22121
2123Rodolfo GonzalezMarussia-Cosworth1’30.3145.06213
225Jenson ButtonMcLaren-MercedesNo time6

2013 Spanish Grand Prix

Browse all 2013 Spanish Grand Prix articles

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

11 comments on “Ferrari on top in rain-hit first practice session”

  1. Damn that weather! Ferrari still seems strapped for a good weekend (still early day, I know).

  2. Did Red Bull not bother to do some slick times? (Not had a chance to watch it yet).

  3. I slept through it, how come the RBs are so low? Were they running heavy fuel, or did they not go out in the drier conditions?

    1. Sky (or was it bbc?) thought they made have been on heavy fuel;they did run slicks @sgt-pepper, @nick-uk

    2. Webber was quick when he came out on inters and topped the sheets for a moment. They seemed to run heavy fuel when they came out at the end on slicks, as @bosyber mentioned

  4. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    10th May 2013, 11:25

    Van der Garde ahead of Sebastian Vettel. You don’t see that everyday.

  5. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
    10th May 2013, 12:35

    I do hope Toro Rosso’s time are genuine! RIC and VER were fast in all condition, not sure about the fuel load though.

  6. Wet session, damn! Still no indication of actual pecking order. Maybe FP2 will lead to more justification of the statement: “If it’s quick at Montmelo, it’s quick…”

  7. McLaren have been handed a thousand euro-fine after Jenson Button was found to have sped in the pits at 86.3 km/h, 26.3 km/h above the limit..

    1. Why would he be going flat out in 7th down the pitlane in the first place?

Comments are closed.