Daniel Ricciardo: “The new track lived up to the expectations we had before coming here, although the lack of grip spoilt it a little bit. But as the track rubbers-in and cleans up, I’m sure it will get even better. The grip level did improve from morning to afternoon but I’d expected a bit more. In fact I reckon next year, we could find a completely different circuit, although by this Sunday I think it will be much more fun. The slippery conditions meant it was difficult to understand what our car was doing. We improved it from the first to the second session, but we need to keep on down doing that tomorrow. The tyres are taking a long time to warm up and that is one of the most complex aspects of the package that we must look at. It will definitely be an important factor tomorrow afternoon in qualifying.”
Jean-Eric Vergne: “I have to say this is a really nice track and I like it very much. It is very challenging with a lot of places where you can overtake, even without DRS I can see some corners where you can pass, which will be good for the show and it is also excellent purely from a driving point of view. There was not one corner where I felt it wasn’t interesting. Technically, it was quite a difficult day, because this morning there was no grip at all, but I’d say we maybe look a little bit better than at the previous grand prix. We saw some interesting things on the data today and I am sure we can have an okay day tomorrow.”
Laurent Mekies (Chief Engineer): “The layout here is fantastic and you really appreciate seeing it for real, after previously only looking at the simulation. It’s been very enjoyable for everyone to tackle this new challenge for the first time today, even if grip level gave everyone a bit of a surprise to start with! It’s normal for a new track to have low grip, but this was beyond what we had expected, however by the end of the day, the situation had improved and we were able to carry out our normal programme to validate the car set-ups and configurations we had calculated before coming here. Both cars ran trouble free, apart from having to change the nose on Vergne’s car after Kovalainen made contact with him. Overall, it was a good day for us, during which we learned a lot. I think it is more difficult today than at any other time this season to draw a conclusion about the order down the pit lane, but I feel we have all the data we need to analyse tonight, in order to be stronger tomorrow.”
COTA, the brand new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, offers everything a race driver could ask for. For the Sauber F1 Team on the rollercoaster track both free practice sessions on Friday went okay. The new tarmac allows for lap times to improve minute by minute, despite the fact the combination of hard tyres and low track temperatures keep the general grip level low. In the afternoon the team began with proper set up work for the United States Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship. Neither Kamui Kobayashi nor Sergio Pérez are really happy with their cars yet, but are positive they will find solutions to improve them.
Sergio regards the race in Austin as his home Grand Prix. Tens of thousands of Mexicans are expected to attend. Sergio is wearing a special helmet design for the race weekend: It is dominated by the colours of Mexico – green, white and red – and features the shape of the state of Texas in the background with Sergio’s initials over this. After the race weekend one helmet in this special design will be auctioned for charity by the Pérez’ foundation.
Kamui Kobayashi: “The high speed corners of the new circuit are very enjoyable, I really like driving here. The first session was about getting familiar with the track and waiting for the tarmac to improve for a better grip level. In the beginning of the second session I did a 20-lap long run on hard tyres before we then had a break due to a broken exhaust. But the mechanics fixed the car quickly and I was able to go out on medium compound tyres as well. I must say I have big warm up problems with both compounds. It just doesn’t work in qualifying if you need ten laps to get the tyres to work. We will now go and look for solutions.“
Sergio Pérez: “We had a good day in terms of getting all the programme done without any issues. The track is amazing, and I especially like the first sector a lot. I really believe we will see a great race here and I can’t wait to race in front of so many Mexicans. Nevertheless I am not happy with the balance of my car yet, but I’m confident we will manage to improve it.“
Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “Given that this track is all new, we produced a different programme for the two cars in order to cover as many variables as possible. Although we had a broken exhaust on Kamui’s car we managed to complete our task list. The biggest challenge is to get the tyres to work, as they are definitely too hard for the circuit. Otherwise everything went fine today.”
The Circuit of the Americas made its Formula One debut today with the first two practice sessions taking place at the 5.513 km purpose-built track in Austin, Texas.
— Michael and Nico completed a total of 119 laps, over 650 kms, of the circuit in the two ninety-minute sessions today
— The team’s programme focused on acclimatisation to the new venue, along with tyre and set-up evaluations
— Ambient conditions were chilly in the morning session, with a lowest track temperature of 15°C
Nico Rosberg: I like the new track here at the Circuit of the Americas very much and they have done a great job with the layout. We’ve also had a really nice welcome for Formula One in the US as you can see how many fans are at the circuit already on a Friday. The grandstands looked really packed. We had a good start to our programme today, and the car felt better than at the last race. The conditions were tricky, particularly this morning, as it was very cold which meant that the tyres were really on the edge.
Michael Schumacher: I have to say it is nice being back in the US, and I hope that the fans appreciate Formula One being back too. The circuit will certainly help to showcase how attractive our sport can be. It has a very nice layout, and the good thing is that it is very challenging. Yesterday I went out to explore the track on a scooter, and it was very different from today when the low seating position of our cars compromises your vision a lot. But then, it takes just a bit of time to understand what you have to do and where the biggest challenges are. The track is still very green, especially offline, but it delivers lots of potential for a good show. As for our programme today, we had some tyre issues in the second session with a puncture which affected our plan a little. However, I will just try to do my best tomorrow and in the race on Sunday.
Ross Brawn: We’ve had a very useful first day here in Austin and have enjoyed discovering the intricacies of the Circuit of the Americas. The track has changed a lot over the course of the day. The cold ambient temperatures this morning combined with the fairly conservative tyres meant that it took a little while to get temperature into the tyres. This should improve throughout the weekend. The circuit has a very exciting track layout which is a challenge for the drivers and engineers, and should create some great racing opportunities. All credit to the organisers for their hard work, and I am sure that the United States Grand Prix will be a fantastic addition to the Formula One calendar.
Norbert Haug: This race is certainly a milestone in the history of Formula One and, first of all, we have to congratulate the organisers and Bernie for getting this event and the United States Grand Prix on the calendar and for building such a unique race track. This challenging circuit has the potential to become one of the best race tracks in the world. Our programme today went as we had planned and, whilst our lap times looked consistent during our long runs at the end of the second session, we do not think that our competitiveness is different compared to the last races. Having said that, we still have room for improvement which we will try to use tomorrow.
Objectives
— Track familiarisation
— Tyre runs and set-up work
— Longer runs in FP2
Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: The drivers and engineers are extremely impressed with the new track layout. Track evolution in FP1 was high with the initial grip levels being extremely low. We made a number of set-up changes to both cars to account for the track conditions. Bruno’s FP2 running on lower and higher fuel levels was strong. Pastor was less happy with the balance in the car and we have a lot of work to do tonight to further optimise the car set-up. On Pastor’s last run we had to stop the car with an engine air leak.
Bruno Senna: The track is really challenging so it was great to gets lots of running in today. It’s very fast and flowing, and also a bit slippery at the moment but the grip is coming. It was a tough session as there is a lot to get used to with the car and the tyres. We need to keep pushing to try to understand the car better and improve to make sure we are in the points this weekend.
Pastor Maldonado: The circuit is really nice and it was fun to drive. It was very slippery, particularly this morning on the hard tyres, but it’s the same for everybody. We struggled a bit today with the car which we need to look at tonight in order to be ready for tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton: “What a great turn-out for a Friday! I never expected to see so many people in the grandstands – it makes me feel even more excited for Saturday and Sunday.
“This is a great drivers’ track – it’s very tough to pull together three perfect sectors. Personally, I find the final two sectors easier than the first; those high-speed changes of direction need a good set-up, and balancing that requirement against the demands of the slow-speed stuff is tricky.
“Turn One probably looks more exciting from the outside than it does from inside the cockpit – it’s certainly not easy, though. You can get oversteer, or lock up, and it’s tricky to get a perfect line through there.
“Overall, we’ve had a good day. Our main difficulty this morning was switching on the tyres in the cooler conditions. But we’ll make some changes overnight – there are definitely some improvements we can make.”
Jenson Button: The circuit was very slippery this morning – as all new track surfaces are, particularly as it was also very cold. But this afternoon’s warmer temperatures meant we could get a better feel for the circuit in FP2.
“Turn One to Turn Nine is a brilliant and free-flowing section – particularly if the car is working well. Turn One is a strange corner though – with a very wide entry rather like Turn Three in India. Turn Three here – the start of the esses – is fantastic though. It’s quicker than Becketts at Silverstone. It’s very unsuual to find a section of corners like this on a modern Formula 1 track. I love it.
“Nevertheless, I don’t think overtaking is going to be easy here, because it’ll be so tricky to stay close to the car in front of you. But the circuit is great fun to drive, and I hope we can put on a great race.”
Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal: “It’s easy to turn up at a new grand prix facility and almost take it for granted; I don’t think anybody in the F1 paddock did that here. Make no mistake: this is a world-class facility – built from nothing – and I’m sure it will quickly earn a reputation for being one of the greatest racetracks in the world.
“The scale of achievement – on both a human level and an engineering level – is truly astonishing. The high-speed esses in the first sector are a real test for both man and machine, whilst the excellent facilities – for teams and spectators alike – make it feel like a very ‘human’ place.
“Most of all, the people who have visited here in their thousands this weekend deserve our recognition and respect. We’ve been made to feel very welcome in this beautiful city ever since we started arriving earlier in the week, and it’s very heartening to see a community so strongly supporting the success of their event.
“Overall, the return of Formula 1 to the United States is a massively positive step – and, after an encouraging first day of practice, let’s hope we can put on a show that will make everyone proud.”
Heikki Kovalainen: "The first lap we did in FP1 was on a track that probably had less grip than anywhere else I’ve ever driven! As we’re at a new circuit that was to be expected but the track layout lived up to expectations - it’s a proper driver’s track and as it keeps evolving it’s going to get even faster which will give us a chance to really find out what it’s all about. In the morning session we were mainly focused on the normal P1 programme, running through baseline setups and aero work and then in the afternoon we went onto more tyre work and longer runs on both compounds. We need to work on improving the grip levels but I’m ok with where we ended up and with the amount of information we have from both sessions I think we can find more time tomorrow."
Vitaly Petrov: "I’m really enjoying my time in the US! It’s my first time in America and as soon as I arrived I spent some time walking around Austin and found it’s a great city, really cool. In P1 We had to make a couple of minor changes to the floor but it didn’t hold up the programme too much and we found an OK balance relatively early on. In the afternoon we had the first runs on the medium tyres and then put in a lot of laps on the long runs. We definitely need to do some work on how we can get more heat into the tyres and how to improve the rear of the car but we’ll work on that tonight and hopefully have a better day tomorrow."
The Marussia F1 Team got its first taste of the Circuit of The Americas today, where Formula 1 has been Re-‘Born in the USA’. After falling in love with downtown Austin, the first foray onto the brand new asphalt at this purpose-built facility only cemented the sport’s latest destination in the Team’s affections. “Pretty cool” is the conclusion - the new ‘Cool, TX’!
The weather was also “pretty cool”, with the air temperature at just 12˚C as Free Practice 1 got underway. The track temperature was a similarly cool 18˚C. This conspired with a very ‘green’ track to make for a rollercoaster ride of installation laps throughout the field, and the universal conclusion was that the surface was incredibly slippery with very little grip.
Whereas the normal Friday morning programme would be for both drivers to work through a series of comprehensive aero evaluations, the Team switched focus rather more to familiarisation runs in order to build confidence in the track.
Charles had a very strong morning, finishing the session ahead of both Caterhams in P18, whilst Timo was in P21. This afternoon, despite a difficult start to Free Practice 2, it was Timo who went on to take the advantage. He ended the session in 20th position, behind Kovalainen but ahead of Petrov. Charles ended the day in P22.
Timo Glock: “A very difficult start to the weekend - for everyone I think! The track was very dirty this morning and in FP1 we just had to wait until it got into reasonable shape. In the end the car was quite okay but there was traffic in the last few laps and when you lose the temperature in the tyres because of that, with it being so cold at the start of the day it’s difficult to recover the time. FP2 was a little confusing as the car was just very difficult to drive in the first 15 minutes and then at the end we got a reasonable balance into the car. It’s quite difficult to get the lap together here and find the grip though; we saw a few cars going off track because of this. We ended the day with quite a bit more confidence in the car, but we need to look at the data and the new developments and see how we can move things forward for tomorrow. In light of the challenges we experienced, I’m quite happy with where we ended the session.”
Charles Pic: “It has been a very interesting day, driving here at the Circuit of The Americas for the first time. It was very close to the simulation work we have done, which is always very encouraging. I like it a lot; the first sector in particular is quite exciting to drive. This morning the track was so slippery that we just had to focus on getting to know the layout and finding more grip, as both were key to improving the lap time. We made steady improvement and it was pleasing to finish the session ahead of both Caterhams. This afternoon we had a lot of work to do to get the tyres working and this was our focus with different fuel levels. Tomorrow will provide us with a clearer picture, but I’m quite happy with the first day here.”
John Booth, Team Principal: “An unusually early start for the Team this morning led into a particularly cold FP1 session, when we got our first taste of the Circuit of The Americas. We realised fairly early on that the grip level was extremely low to start off with - a combination of the low temperature at that time of day and a brand new surface - which led us to quickly modify our programme and allow the drivers more time to get used to the rather difficult track conditions. Unfortunately, this made things a little more difficult since we had some rear suspension developments which required a substantial amount of running to facilitate as much data-gathering as possible. This afternoon, in FP2, our attempts to knuckle down to that evaluation work were thwarted once again by the requirement to complete much longer runs in order to get the tyres to work in the conditions, preventing us from completing the full programme with the new suspension. However, we have collected some good data on both cars, with lighter and heavier fuel levels, and tonight we will evaluate how we implement the new developments during the rest of the weekend. Whilst the track has proved rather difficult to get to grips with, experiencing its characteristics for the first time has been quite fascinating. It offers up a good mix of high speed corners and elevation changes which certainly mark it out from the crowd amongst the newer circuits on the calendar.”
Kimi Räikkönen went eleventh fastest whilst Romain Grosjean set the thirteenth quickest time as teams throughout the paddock got to grips with the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas for the very first time. The team evaluated new rear drums and the latest exhaust evolution with both cars running reliably throughout the two 90 minute practice sessions.
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical Programme Notes :
— We re-evaluated our latest exhaust update on Kimi’s car in FP1 and FP2.
— Romain evaluated new rear drums in both sessions.
— Kimi will evaluate our latest evolution front wing tomorrow morning.
— Pirelli’s hard compound tyre was used in the first session, the hard and medium in the afternoon.
— We have sufficient data to be confident in running the latest exhaust system and new rear drums on both cars for the rest of the weekend.
Kimi Räikkönen: "It’s a nice circuit to drive. Of course, there was no grip at the start of the day which doesn’t give you a very good feeling, but as the grip improves it will be more fun to drive. This morning was very slippery, this afternoon less so but you still can’t really push. There’s a lot of improvement to come ; from the track surface and from the setup of the car."
Romain Grosjean: "The most noticeable thing about the circuit at this stage is the lack of grip ; it’s really, really slippery out there. The layout itself looks very nice but we’re a long way off being able to push the car anywhere near the limit, particularly through Turns 7-9 and towards the end at Turn 19 where it’s tricky to predict how the car will behave. The good thing is that the car felt comfortable on long runs with the hard tyre so we have a good starting point, but there is still a little bit of work to do with the mediums. We still have tomorrow morning and I think the track will continue to improve right until the end of the weekend, so qualifying will be interesting for sure."
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director : "Despite being an all-new track, it’s been a fairly normal Friday for us. The morning session delivered the expected low levels of grip with the surface improving hugely later on making any comparison tests very difficult. This meant we concentrated on keeping the cars balanced and spending as much time out on track as we could. FP2 was a mix of setting the cars up and then carrying out high fuel work, however both struggled to get a clear lap on the medium tyres. Neither driver was particularly happy with their set-up so we’ve got a little bit of work to do. Our high fuel pace looks okay, and we’re confident we can deliver more on low fuel tomorrow."
Sebastian Vettel: “It was slippery this morning and a bit like driving on ice. It wasn’t so easy, but we managed to get into a rhythm. We had a bit of a problem this afternoon and so couldn’t run as much as we wanted, but we got two good runs which is important for tomorrow and Sunday. I think there were a couple of surprises today in terms of pace, so we’ll see tomorrow. The track will constantly improve – it’s good that we are amongst the guys at the top, now we’ll try to improve the car to make sure we stay there.”
Mark Webber: “It’s a pretty good track, it’s quick, especially the first sector which is quite full on, although sectors two and three are more traditional and similar to other tracks. It was very slippery to start with, which was quite frustrating probably for all of us, but in the end the track rubbered in pretty well and we got into a good rhythm. As with all new circuits, you’ve got to work out where you can prioritise your time and where to compromise. It’s got a bit of everything really, so it’s good.”
Nico Hulkenberg: “I think the organisers have given us an awesome circuit. It’s good fun to drive and there is a nice variation of corners, which gives a nice rhythm to the track. In terms of the new generation of tracks, I’d say it’s one of my favourites. The day was pretty smooth and we had to make sure we collected lots of data because we don’t have any historic information to draw upon. We looked competitive this morning and seemed to struggle more in the afternoon, so we need to try and find some more grip overnight.”
Paul Di Resta: “I said yesterday that getting the tyres working was going to be difficult – and so it proved today. The track surface is very smooth and the temperatures were not especially high, which probably didn’t help us. We’ve identified some issues and haven’t found the best direction with the set-up yet, so we need to work hard to make the car easier to drive. In terms of the layout of the track it’s very open and there are some nice corners, especially the first sector which has a great flow. A lot of the corners are off-camber, which also adds another challenge.”
Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer: “It hasn’t been the easiest day of practice for us and we need to work hard tonight to make the car perform better on this challenging circuit. We struggled in the first session with low grip – just as everyone did – but we didn’t find much improvement in the afternoon session. The layout here is a bit like Suzuka with a mix of high and low-speed corners, but it’s fair to say we haven’t found the right compromise with the set-up to cope with these two extremes. On the positive side our long run performance looked quite encouraging and when we go over the data tonight I’m sure we will find the clues to help us make the right decisions with the set-up going into tomorrow.”
The inaugural United States Grand Prix kicked off today at the brand new Circuit of Americas with the first free practice sessions. In the morning, Ma Qing Hua stepped into the F112 once again and accompanied Pedro de la Rosa for the fourth time this season in FP1. Caution was advised, as conditions were quite tricky on the early stages due to a dusty and cold track, and both drivers conducted an impeccable session improving considerably throughout the session. Narain Karthikeyan returned for the afternoon session and had a hard task ahead to both learn the track and evaluate both tyres’ options over the 20 laps he did around the 5.516 km circuit.
Pedro de la Rosa: "This is a beautiful and technical circuit. There are all sorts of corners and you have to drive with confidence, as there are quite a few blind turns. The asphalt is brand new and the car slides a lot but it improved immensely throughout the day. Our main issue is that we struggle to get the tyres up to temperature, which doesn’t make driving easy. However, the cars’ basic set up is good and we only need to cover as many kilometres as possible to improve on that tomorrow”.
Narain Karthikeyan: "The circuit is quite nice. It has a lot of fast corners, like the first S’s, and it is very technical and demanding. It is not easy to learn but I did my best with the limited number of laps we had. Grip level was quite low over the first laps and I couldn’t manage to keep the tyres’ temperature high enough, which made driving quite challenging. But, as laps went by, it got better and going out with options also helped. We still have a lot to improve but I’m confident for tomorrow”.
Ma Qing Hua: "Driving a Formula 1 is always special but doing it at a brand new track like this one is thrilling but also a great responsibility. The fact of it being a new track means that there is quite a lot of work to do as we have no previous data or experience apart from what we got from the engineers’ simulations. Therefore, the program was to go out and run from the beginning in order to work on the car’s basic set up as well as learn the track. Conditions were quite tricky this morning as the track was very dusty, slippery and cold which made it hard to drive. But it improved lap by lap and so did our lap times and feeling. It was important to gather as much data as possible but also not to take any unnecessary risks. Although there is still room for improvement, I am quite happy with the job we have done”.
Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: "All teams and drivers had their first taste of the new track this morning and caution was advised especially because of the track’s cold and slippery conditions. Both Ma and Pedro did a good job in the morning and so did Narain in the afternoon, completing their programs without any issues. We worked on short programs for each driver and session but we managed to run all necessary checks and also tried both tyres options. We can still improve but we are already heading in the right direction”.
A lot of work and many laps for the two F2012s on the first day of practice for the United States Grand Prix. On this fascinating Circuit of the Americas, on the outskirts of Austin, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa completed almost seven hundred kilometres – 678.468 to be precise – with the Spaniard completing 353.024 over 64 laps and the Brazilian doing 325.444 or 59 laps. Neither car suffered any technical problems.
Fernando Alonso: “It’s no surprise to see the two Red Bulls ahead of the field: in the last few races they have had the best package, therefore today’s result is logical. We know what are our strengths – team work and
reliability – and we will make the most of them in the fight. The updates we have brought here seem to work, but we still need to look more closely at the data before having a definite answer. I am happy about this, but it’s
also true that while we are making small steps forward with each passing race, so too are the others, so the distance between us remains unchanged. Would I be happy to be third again tomorrow afternoon? Sure, but this is only Friday and we have been in this position before and then on Saturday other cars have got ahead of us. The circuit? A nice surprise, even if we had an idea of what to expect from the simulator: it’s very
demanding, especially the first sector which is very fast and where you can really feel the acceleration of a Formula 1 car. The track is very smooth and not at all porous: it reminds me a lot of Portimao in Portugal, so if
it was to rain, it could be like driving on glass.”
Felipe Massa: “Today was given over above all to getting to kno :: w this new track: we did a lot of laps, mainly with this in mind. In the morning, the track was dirty and very slippery: I can’t remember ever driving on a surface that offered so little grip! Then the situation improved and we began to get a bit more confidence and find the right lines. I like the track a lot: it’s fun driving here and I think we will see a great show over the weekend. The tyres? Definitely hard! It will be important to work out how to get them up to temperature, especially as far as qualifying is concerned.”
Pat Fry: “We got through almost all our planned programme, which is always a good way to start a race weekend. We had some aerodynamic components to try and the first signs seem positive, but we will have to
evaluate the data carefully, before making choices for qualifying and the race. The track is technically all encompassing and demanding, both for the drivers and the cars. Obviously, with a brand new track, the grip
level on this first day was very low and the low temperature certainly didn’t help in this respect. Tyre degradation seems pretty light, even if we have really little data to work with. One of the areas we will have to
work on extensively seems to be that of how quickly we manage to get the tyres to the best operating temperature, which will be crucial, especially for qualifying.”
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Renault | 1:37.718 | 17 | |
| 02 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Renault | 1:38.475 | + 0.757 | 36 |
| 03 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:38.483 | + 0.765 | 35 |
| 04 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren Mercedes | 1:38.748 | + 1.030 | 31 |
| 05 | Jenson Button | McLaren Mercedes | 1:38.786 | + 1.068 | 32 |
| 06 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:39.029 | + 1.311 | 33 |
| 07 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG | 1:39.448 | + 1.730 | 32 |
| 08 | Bruno Senna | Williams Renault | 1:39.531 | + 1.813 | 38 |
| 09 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber Ferrari | 1:39.653 | + 1.935 | 36 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes AMG | 1:40.115 | + 2.397 | 30 |
| 11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus Renault | 1:40.166 | + 2.448 | 32 |
| 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams Renault | 1:40.230 | + 2.512 | 35 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus Renault | 1:40.286 | + 2.568 | 32 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Sauber Ferrari | 1:40.326 | + 2.608 | 35 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso Ferrari | 1:40.435 | + 2.717 | 30 |
| 16 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso Ferrari | 1:40.516 | + 2.798 | 32 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India Mercedes | 1:40.700 | + 2.982 | 34 |
| 18 | Paul di Resta | Force India Mercedes | 1:41.430 | + 3.712 | 35 |
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham Renault | 1:42.476 | + 4.758 | 38 |
| 20 | Timo Glock | Marussia Cosworth | 1:42.652 | + 4.934 | 33 |
| 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham Renault | 1:42.846 | + 5.128 | 38 |
| 22 | Charles Pic | Marussia Cosworth | 1:43.538 | + 5.820 | 38 |
| 23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT F1 Cosworth | 1:44.453 | + 6.735 | 16 |
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT F1 Cosworth | 1:45.114 | + 7.396 | 20 |