Hamilton sets pace in Malaysia

Formula One auto-racer sets fastest time in practice sessions for Malaysian Grand Prix.

Grand Prix events held across the world are televised with audience of around 600 million per race.

Lewis Hamilton, the British Formula One racing driver, has set the fastest time in two practice sessions for the Formula One Grand Prix (GP), the world’s biggest car-racing event, currently being held in Malaysia.

2nd practice session results of best lap

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mclaren 1:34.175
2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 1:34.441
3. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:34.443
4. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1:34.538
5. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 1:34.674
6. Robert Kubica (Poland) Renault 1:35.148
7. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1:35.581
8. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso 1:35.660
9. Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 1:35.872
10. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1:35.957
11. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber 1:36.018
12. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India 1:36.221
13. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) Sauber 1:36.325
14. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso 1:36.325
15. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:36.602
16. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams 1:36.813
17. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Williams 1:37.415
18. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus 1:38.454
19. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus 1:38.530
20. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 1:38.786
21. Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin 1:39.061
22. Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil) Virgin 1:39.158
23. Karun Chandhok (India) HRT 1:41.084
24. Bruno Senna (Brazil) HRT 1:41.481

The 2008 F1 world champion, racing for Mclaren – topped the timesheets with the fastest lap of one minute and 34.175 seconds around the 5.543km Sepang Circuit on Friday.

Hamilton was just three-tenths of a second faster than German Sebastian Vettel, who races for Red Bull.

Meanwhile, Mercede’s Nico Rosberg finished third in the preparation for the GP event.

The GP’s qualifying session is set for Saturday and the official Grand Prix race is scheduled for Sunday.

Due to a new ban on in-race refuelling, both Mclaren and Mercedes had said that their emphasis in practice sessions would be to prepare their cars for the low-fuel conditions of qualifying rather than the heavy-fuel loads of the race.

They said they believe that holds the key to the race on Sunday.

Source: News Agencies