Felipe Massa’s renaissance continued as he set the fastest time in practice for the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday, significantly shading his Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso once again.
Massa earned praise from his Formula One team for an “incredible” performance as he set a best time of 1 minute, 35.340 seconds around the Shanghai International Circuit in the afternoon session, putting him 0.15 seconds ahead of lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, with Alonso third.
He qualified ahead of Ferrari No. 1 Alonso in four straight races, and should he do so again on Saturday, he will be the first teammate to ever out-qualify the Spaniard five straight times.
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was fourth fastest on his pet circuit and Red Bull’s Mark Webber was fifth. Webber will doubtless take some pleasure in seeing Vettel in 10th on the timesheets. Mclaren driver Jenson Button was sixth.