Red Bull stamps authority in Practice 2
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull Racing duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber have put in a commanding performance on the opening day of the 2013 Formula 1 season.
Having topped Practice 1 earlier in the afternoon, Vettel’s Practice 2 best of 1:25.91s saw the German 0.26s clear of second-placed Webber.
The Australian had thrilled local fans by shooting to the top of the order halfway through the 90 minute hit-out after moving to the super soft tyre.
Vettel answered the challenge with his own super soft time soon after, before the final 30 minutes saw mainly high-fuel running.
Webber’s session effectively ended with a wild spin at the exit of Turn 13 in the final minutes as he battled with the rapidly degrading rubber.
The quickest non-Red Bull proved the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, which lapped some 0.41s slower than Vettel.
It was a dramatic end to the session for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton’s entry going straight on at Turn 6 after an apparent mechanical failure, moments before Rosberg pulled off with gearbox troubles.
Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean ended a promising day for Lotus in fourth and fifth respectively ahead of Fernando Alonso, Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg.
McLaren meanwhile appears to be in for a tough start to the season with Jenson Button 11th and new team-mate Sergio Perez 13th.
West Australian Daniel Ricciardo was 14th in his Toro Rosso, three places ahead of team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.
It was a tough session for rookie Giedo van der Garde, who missed the final hour after spinning his Caterham off the circuit at Turn 6.
A third and final Formula 1 practice session will get underway at 1400 on Saturday afternoon before qualifying at 1700.
See below for the full Practice 2 result
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Time/Retired |
Gap |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:25.908 | |
| 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:26.172 | 0.264 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.322 | 0.414 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:26.361 | 0.453 |
| 5 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:26.680 | 0.772 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:26.748 | 0.840 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:26.772 | 0.864 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:26.855 | 0.947 |
| 9 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:27.435 | 1.527 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:28.187 | 2.279 |
| 11 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:28.294 | 2.386 |
| 12 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:28.311 | 2.403 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:28.566 | 2.658 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:28.627 | 2.719 |
| 15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:28.772 | 2.864 |
| 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:28.852 | 2.944 |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:28.968 | 3.060 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1:29.386 | 3.478 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:29.696 | 3.788 |
| 20 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1:30.165 | 4.257 |
| 21 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:30.600 | 4.692 |
| 22 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1:32.450 | 6.542 |