Vettel again in FP2
Vettel made it a clean sweep on Friday, going fastest in FP2. He continued his form in the later session, staying at the top of the time sheet, but downplayed the achievement afterwards: Its still Friday and todays results are not so conclusive as some drivers got stuck in traffic etc. Most important is that the car seemed to work on either tyre, he said.Vettel and McLarens Lewis Hamilton were the early pacesetters, they each took turns at the top of the lists on the soft compound, until the session was interrupted 50 minutes in by a red flag with Bruno Sennas car stranded in the middle of the final chicane. The Brazilian was out of shape approaching the corner and spun. Though not badly damaged the session was suspended while the stricken Williams was removed.I made a mistake in FP2 and touched the wall which damaged the car, said Senna. I was trying to push hard and on a track like this unfortunately that means you can end up in the wall. There isnt too much damage so we need to work hard to be 100 per cent ready for tomorrow.When the session restarted most of the leading drivers switched to the Super Soft compound for the final minutes. Times fell and the order changed significantly before Vettel retook the top position with a time of 1m48.340 as FP2 drew to a close.
FP1Sebastian Vettel carried on where he left off in Singapore last year by claiming P1 at the end of the first free practice session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, though he finished just five hundredths of a second ahead of McLarens Lewis Hamilton.
The duos times were almost a second clear of third-placed Jenson Button with Fernando Alonso a tenth behind the second McLaren driver. With the circuit still drying after a heavy rain shower in the hours before the start of the first practice session the early forays of the driver were cautious affairs, mostly run on intermediate tyres. When a proper dry line finally developed it was Kamui Kobayashi who set the first real benchmark. The Sauber driver maintained his position at the top past the sessions midpoint but then, in the final 30 minutes, Vettel and Hamilton began trading times, a duel which eventually left them well ahead of the pack when the flag fell at 7.30pm local time.Behind the top four, Pastor Maldonado finished the session five hundredths off Alonso, with Mark Webber sixth and Nico Hulkenberg seventh. The top ten was completed by Paul Di Resta, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Prez, the Mexican finishing 1.7 seconds adrift of Vettels time and complaining of very poor handling.
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m50.566 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m50.615s 3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m51.459s 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m51.525s 5. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m51.576s 6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m51.655s 7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m51.658s 8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m51.943s 9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m52.275s 10 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m52.296s 11 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m52.629s 12 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m52.716s 13 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m52.839s 14 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m52.986s 15 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m53.028s 16 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m53.080s 17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m53.189s 18 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m53.227s 19 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m54.908s 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m55.091s 21 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m55.335s 22 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m55.760s23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m56.656s 24 Ma Qing Hua HRT-Cosworth 1m58.053s
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