Button thwarts Hamilton's resurgence
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Brawn GP's Jenson Button continued to set the Formula One pace today, posting the best time in practice ahead of Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.
The 2009 championship leader posted a time of 1 minute, 35.679 seconds at the Shanghai International Circuit, just .025 of a second ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg, with Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello third fastest.
Brawn again emerged as the fastest team in the afternoon session, after world champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was quickest in the morning, showing the benefit of a new diffuser, which had interim modifications before a completed new version is unveiled for later races.
However Hamilton was only 13th fastest in the afternoon, having only improved four tenths of a second on his morning time while others made more progress.
Another team making little progress was Ferrari. Still pointless this season, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were 12th and 14th quickest respectively in the 20-car field.
The Red Bull pair of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were fourth and fifth on the timesheets, while Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were sixth and eighth. Kazuki Nakajima was seventh best in his Williams.
Friday's sessions were the first opportunity for teams to test the parts they had changed in the two-week break since the previous race in Malaysia, due to this year's ban on in-season testing.
Aside from the diffuser improvements and other aerodynamic changes, Ferrari has jettisoned the KERS energy-boost technology, after experiencing a failure at Malaysia. While the removal would cost the Ferraris speed off the grid and down the very long Shanghai straight, the reduced weight should make it more lithe through the corners.
By contrast, BMW's Robert Kubica has added the KERS device to his car, having forgone it in Australia and Malaysia because of its weight. He was a lowly 17th fastest in afternoon practice.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments