Ben Spies will be missing out on riding at Valencia due to the long recovery period following his surgery after the crash at Malaysia. Yamaha Factory Racing has moved to substitute Spies with Japanese rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga for the Valencia Grand Prix. Nakasuga also substituted for Lorenzo in last years’ Grand Prix at Valencia.

Nakasuga tryst with Factory YZR-M1 includes a sixth place finish when riding for Lorenzo at Valencia last year. This year he finished 9th in the Grand Prix of Japan with the Yamaha YSP Racing Team

With the weather holding up steady, teams had little to gamble on. The track conditions though were constantly evolving and teams had to be on their toes adapting the vehicle setup to suit the track. Red Bull Racing proved its tech prowess with both drivers placing on top of the competition. Most teams have pointed out that tyre performance is something they will not have to worry about this time.

“Friday’s are always difficult with so many things changing. The track improvement was quite big today, it was dusty to start and improved lap by lap, so I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow the order is different, but we’ve had worse Fridays, so I am happy. We need to keep working and improve a little bit overnight.” said Sebastian Vettel, winner of last year’s Indian Grand Prix.

Mark Webber said “That went pretty well. I had a lock-up in Turn 1, which I could have done without, but it wasn’t the end of the world. We got on with the important stuff, which is understanding the soft tyre on short and long runs. We’ll have a look where we can improve the car, you can always improve. The team is incredibly motivated and the drivers also.”

Fernando Alonso posted the third fastest time, in his Ferrari, while Felipe Massa who placed seventh in FP1 was down in fifteenth place in FP2. While Alonso was on a roll and worked on the usual comparison of the hard and soft tyres over short and long runs, Felipe had a more troubled time due to small glitch on his car which upset the balance causing him to spin and damage his tyres.

Massa said “It was a rather difficult day, especially in the afternoon. The first session went well and we were able to do everything we had planned. But in the second one, when we switched from the Hard to the Soft, the balance of the car was no longer the best and it was becoming very difficult to drive, to such an extent that I ended up spinning. Unfortunately, that damaged a tyre and so I was unable to do the work over a long run which had been one of our priorities. In the final half hour, I therefore concentrated on pit stop practice, the only thing possible with the tyres in that condition.”

Fernando Alonso: “This is an interesting circuit: after the longest straight, there’s a combination of high speed corners which are very nice to drive. Today the track was still very dirty, which is usually the case at new tracks that aren’t used very often. Tomorrow, when it will deliver more grip, it will be even more fun. The track conditions, which change rapidly lap after lap, make it even more complicated to understand the situation relating to the hierarchy down the pit lane. We must study the data carefully to make the right choices for the rest of the weekend. Nothing much to say about tyre performance: from what we’ve seen today, we can hope there’s one less problem to take into consideration.”

Nico Rosberg posted the fourth fastest time. His fastest times in P1 and P2 that were respectively 0.8s and 0.5s slower than in the same sessions last year at BIC. Michael Schumacher, who posted the 8th fastest in FP1 managed only a 13th in FP2.

Nico Rosberg said “We learned a lot in the two practice sessions today and found some good set-up directions, so it was a decent day. Fourth place is not our realistic position at the moment but I am confident that we’re looking a little better here than at the previous two races.”

Michael Schumacher said “We had two sessions today where we worked mainly on long runs and the performance was reasonable by the end of the day. The car balance was ok, particularly in the first sector with the slower corners, and as such confirmed the performance that we expected from the circuit characteristics. With the soft tyres, I didn’t really get a lap together, but we managed to build a basis to work on for the rest of the weekend.”

Developing Story.. More from the Lotus F1 Team and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes coming up soon

You didn’t have to Ferrari. In the first place, you really didn’t have to bring this issue up at all.

Michael Schumacher The Formula One debut of India last year was certainly a success. There were a surprising amount of fans during the weekend, and the track itself really is cool. We drivers were given a very enthusiastic reception, and it will be interesting to see if this enthusiasm has remained as strong.

After two races which have not been totally satisfying, we naturally wish for a more positive trend to come, and I can say that everybody in the team has put in a lot of effort to achieve it. Let’s see what we can make out of it.

Nico Rosberg

The Buddh International Circuit is very challenging with an interesting combination of slow speed corners and long fast straights. The track also has one of the highest average speeds in Formula One and is good for overtaking. Last year I was really impressed by the passion and friendliness of the Indian people so I’m looking forward to visiting again and having some more interesting experiences. I hope that I will have a bit more luck than recently next weekend, and I will have the chance to achieve a good result.

Ross Brawn

Next week will see Formula One’s second visit to India following the inaugural Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit in October 2011. This year, our team is very pleased to be partnering with Airtel, title sponsors of the race, and we look forward to sharing our Indian Grand Prix experience with them. It’s always a pleasure to welcome new fans to our sport, and Formula One certainly seemed to capture the imagination of those who came to the circuit last year. The facilities are very impressive, and the track proved a good challenge for the drivers.

Norbert Haug

After a successful inaugural race last year, we are all excited to return to the Buddh International Circuit for the second edition of the Indian Grand Prix. We received a warm welcome from a very enthusiastic public last year and it was impressive to see the prestige Formula One enjoyed with the people on its first visit to India. Following two long straights, and one shorter one, the circuit offers a challenging flow of corners from turns 5 to 15, especially the long right-hander at turns 10 and 11. This puts high loads through the front-left tyre, while the expected temperatures in excess of 30°C will also make for additional challenges.

Probably the team with the biggest fan following in India, Scuderia Ferrari’s Alonso was third in the first practice session with a time of 1.28.044 and Massa seventh at 1.28.542. The team says the track is slippery due to to the fact that it is used very rarely.

Fernando Alonso who is also a Unicef Ambassador attended an event to promote the benefits of washing one’s hands with soap to combat disease. He visited a school in Turgapur, one hour south east of New Delhi to take part in the “Handwashing Day” campaign. It is aimed at encouraging people to wash their hands using soap, in a country where over a thousand children die every day from diarrhoea caused by a lack of drinking water and basic sanitation. On the BIC “This is one of the most challenging tracks and after the first sector, there is no time to breathe, with corner after corner, very high speed ones, so I think we all enjoy this track,” said the Spaniard. “Maybe it will be a bit difficult tomorrow through lack of grip, but as the grip comes by the end of Friday and into Saturday, it is a track we all enjoy driving and I’m really looking forward to the weekend.”

About losing the lead in Driver’s Championship to Vettel in Korea, he said “My situation is quite good, you could say it’s the second best situation as we are almost on the same points total as Vettel, with four races to go and there is every possibility open for the championship.”

Felipe Massa was asked if he had been concerned about his future at any point? “Yes there were moments when I was worried, but then, after things started to improve, I was very calm about what would happen. I did look around at the situation in other teams, but I never had what one could call real discussions with them, because I always wanted to stay here,” he admitted.

In the end, the contract was signed in Maranello after a meeting with Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo. “We spoke of many things. I was alone with him and we looked back at past years, the bad ones and the good ones and we talked about the future as we have so often done and, in the end, everything was decided on that day.”

“Why did Ferrari decide to extend my contract? You the press also know me well and know what I can do,” continued the Brazilian. “I am capable of doing a good job, knowing how to put together all aspects, from my driving, to the way I work with the team, the car, it’s set-up and so on and that way, I’ve been able to enjoy myself and win what I have won. I am sure if I do all that again then the results will come.”

Scuderia Ferrari has posted on its website that the team will carry the flag of the Italian Navy on the cars driven by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in 2012 Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit.

In doing so, Ferrari says they pay tribute to one of the outstanding entities of Italy, also in the hope that the Indian and Italian authorities will soon find a solution to the situation currently involving two sailors Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone from the Italian Navy.

Valentine Jalastine and Ajesh Binki were allegedly shot dead on February 15 in Kollam, Kerala by the two Italians, apparently being mistaken for pirates. The Indian sailors however, say they had been fired upon without any provocation and given no chance to explain. The Italians have been granted bail in June but have been ordered to remain in Indian territory till a final verdict is delivered in the case.

What do you think? Does a hallowed automotive marque with such a huge following in this country need to tread into a political issue and risk the wrath of fans in India?