Practice
It was business as usual at the sharp end as Red Bull dominated practice, featuring a truncated FP3 on Saturday due to smog problems that grounded the medical helicopter, with Vettel taking first in all three sessions and Webber finishing second in all three to send an ominous warning for the race as both drivers seemed pleased with the car. Lotus made a solid start to their weekend as Grosjean secured P4, P3, P5 across the three sessions, though Raikkonen was less successful with P17, P8, P11. Grosjean was pleased with the car and how they stacked up to their rivals, though grip was still tricky to find. Raikkonen couldn't find the setup on Friday morning but got more in the groove for the afternoon and hoped that the track improving would help. Mercedes looked promising as Hamilton hit P5, P4, P10 and Rosberg P3, P6, P8 across the three sessions. Both drivers got a lot of work done but felt there was plenty to be done overnight into Saturday ahead of qualifying, with tyre wear a primary concern. Ferrari developed over the practice sessions with a mixed Friday and then stronger Saturday morning, allowing Alonso to post P12, P5, P3 and Massa P8, P7, P6 ahead of qualifying. Alonso suffered a gearbox problem in FP1 but didn't lose too much time, and both drivers ran some long programmes to find their race pace. Massa was pleased with how the harder medium tyre performed which he felt would be key for the race. McLaren were just inside the top ten with Perez P7, P9, P13 and Jenson Button P6, P10, P9. Perez was happy with the balance of his car, especially on the prime tyre but was unsure with the option. Button struggled with setup early on Friday but found it more for the afternoon and identified a gulf between the two tyres in terms of degradation. Torro Rosso had a mixed practice that seemed to go the wrong direction as Ricciardo ran in P13, P11 then P17 and Vergne P11, P18, P15. Ricciardo felt the afternoon on Friday went much better, though he had an off which damaged the car, while Vergne found it the other way around for unknown reasons, and both drivers found tyre graining issues. Force India found themselves improving over practice as Sutil managed P15, P12, P14 while Di Resta ran P15 and P7 in FP2 and FP3 after rookie James Calado took the car to P18 in FP1. Sutil felt the car was more consistent than recent races and the balance was decent, leading to a comfortable start. Calado enjoyed his first experience on the Indian circuit and only had a minor spin as he tested things out. Di Resta slotted back into the car and started finding his way, feeling the car was more competitive than in Japan and then sprung up in FP3 to head one of the Mercedes with seventh. Sauber had a mixed practice as Hulkenberg posted P9, P14 and P4, but Gutierrez only managed P16, P17, P19. The German worked through his programme on Friday and surprised again with a great fourth on Saturday morning, but felt the car wasn't ideal on either low or high fuel and there was tyre work to do, but the top ten was within reach. Gutierrez struggled for pace in all conditions and just couldn't get into the groove, with either the setup or the tyres. Williams seemed a little more competitive this weekend as Bottas broke into the top ten with P10, P13 and P16 and Maldonado went P14, P16, P12. Bottas enjoyed his Indian debut and gathered plenty of aerodynamic and mechanical data, but Maldonado was less fortunate as his front right wheel nut came loose and he had to stop in FP2. The wheel retention system worked by Williams were still fined 60,000. Things were more mixed up at the back on Friday as Caterham's Van der Garde posted P19, P19, P20 and Pic followed P21, P21, P18 through the sessions. Van der Garde was very pleased with his Friday and felt the car was great underneath him, with only a minor rear brake issue to contend with. Pic felt there was some understeer in the high speed corners and the option tyres didn't really work at all on Friday, but found more speed for Saturday. Marussia got in between the Caterham's on Friday with Bianchi in P20 both sessions, though he dropped behind them and his teammate to P22 in FP3. Chilton's debut ended with P22 in both sessions Friday and P21 ahead of Bianchi on Saturday despite a small spin as he struggled with balance issues and learnt the circuit. Bianchi was pleased with their pace, especially on the longer runs.