That means the rookie will now get to drive his car for the very first time during Saturday’s free practice, which takes place just before qualifying. He’ll be on a very steep learning curve.
Although it’s sometimes difficult to take too much from Friday practice times, Chandhok’s HRT team mate Bruno Senna was over eleven seconds down on the best lap time, set by Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes. If that pace difference continues into the race, it seems there could be a couple of mobile chicanes for the front runners to contend with.
