Hamilton leads McLaren in Melbourne practice

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton ended the first day of running at the top of the timesheets in Melbourne this evening, clocking a time of 1m25.801s early in the weather-disrupted second practice session. Occasional rain over the course of the 90 minutes forced teams to switch to the intermediate Bridgestone tyre, although some drivers opted to stay [...]

Alonso leads Ferrari one-two in Bahrain

Fernando Alonso took a comfortable victory on his Ferrari debut in Bahrain this afternoon, winning by 16 seconds after initial race leader Sebastian Vettel fell behind with mechanical problems just after half distance. Second place for Felipe Massa secured the Italian marque a one-two finish, while McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in third.

From the start pole-sitter Vettel romped clear at the front, opening a two-second lead by the end of the first lap. In what turned out to be a crucial move for his race win, Fernando Alonso squeezed by team-mate Massa at the second corner, with Massa just managing to keep third from Hamilton thanks to the Briton running wide at turn 4.

Vettel got pole in Bahrain in front of two Ferrari’s

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel resumed the 2010 where he left off in 2009 by scoring an impressive pole position for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix this afternoon in Sakhir. The German went almost one and a half tenths quicker than his nearest rival in the decisive Q3 part of qualifying, but was the first front-runner to set his benchmark, a 1m54.101s, at the end of Q3, forcing a nervous wait to see if could hold onto the position.

In the end, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were unable to keep pace with the youngster with Massa taking a front row slot on his return from injury. He set a time of 1m54.242s to go three tenths quicker than Alonso’s 1m54.608s, but crucially lost out to Vettel in the fight for pole. Fourth place went to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who set a time of 1m55.217s to go over a second slower than Vettel. However the Briton was considerably quicker than team-mate Button who managed just eighth place on a 1m55.672s after a disappointing qualifying for him.

Bahrain: Driver preview quotes

After months of preparation and weeks of testing, it is almost time for the 12 teams and 24 drivers that make up the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship to finally put their cards on the table and show just what they can do. For the teams it will be their first real chance to see if they can really challenge for the title, while for the drivers the joy of racing again will be just as potent.

Alonso is fastest on Day 3 in Valencia

Fernando Alonso continued his impressive Ferrari debut, setting the fastest time of the week during the morning session at Valencia.

Despite being only 29 laps into his Ferrari career, and Wednesday’s running is first opportunity to drive the new F10, Alonso quickly proved that he is going to be a force this season.

Over 25,000 fans arrived at the Valencia circuit on Wednesday morning, eager to see the Spaniard in action upon his Ferrari debut. But added to the Spaniard’s outing an interesting tussle between Alonso, Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher was also on the cards.