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Mark Webber and Jenson Button lead free practice Friday in Australia - Red Bull and McLaren take the top honours for the first day

Published by Christine

Mark Webber and Jenson Button lead free practice Friday in Australia
Mark Webber and Jenson Button lead free practice Friday in Australia audio waveform
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It’s the 25th March 2011 and you’re listening to F1Minute.

The 2011 season is officially underway with Red Bull and McLaren taking top honours in Free Practice in Melbourne. Mark Webber led the way in FP1, with Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso close behind. In FP2 there were a few rain showers but that didn’t stop the McLaren boys improving their pace and Jenson Button taking the top spot for the end of the day.

Further down the order, more interesting things were taking place. The first driver out on track for FP1 was Karun Chandhok in the Lotus, after his last minute appointment as reserve driver this week. Unfortunately, the grip was poor and after only a couple of corners, he had spun off and crashed into the wall. The team worked really hard to get the car back up and running for Jarno Trulli to participate in FP2, but it was not a good start for anyone involved.

Better than HRT, though, who only had Tonio Liuzzi’s car ready to roll and that was only complete just in time for one installation lap before the final session ended.