In the first ever free practice at the Buddh International Circuit for the first ever Formula1 Grand Prix of India, Lewis Hamilton emerged as the fastest driver. His teammate Jenson Button had predicted that given that the circuit is of a high speed nature the McLaren cars were likely to go well here. For most of the first free practice it was Jenson Button who was the fastest.
There were a couple of adventures involving Jaime Alguersuari who clouted the barriers near turn 10 with his Scuderia Toro Rosso- Ferrari, Sergio Perez who went to check out the grass in Sauber – Ferrari and there were also engine failures for Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Pastor Maldonado of Williams. The second place went to Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and third to Mark Webber his teammate. Both the RBR-Renault cars bumped Jenson Button to fourth. But this is early days yet and the lap times are likely to tumble as the drivers learn the circuit. Hamilton’s time was 1min26.836s. Karun Chandok was given an opportunity to drive the car in the first free practice and he finished 19th but ahead of Narain Karthikeyan who was in 22nd position.
ALL PICTURES COURTESY ZAYN KHAN