Vettel dominates Indian practice
Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest time in both free practice sessions for Sunday’s Indian Grand Prix.
The world champion led home a Red Bull one-two in the second session, while McLaren’s Jenson Button clocked the second fastest time in the morning.
Red Bull dominated the second session with Vettel posting a 1:26.221, which was only 0.118seconds clear of Webber, but they were half a second quicker than the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.
Conditions were much better than they had been during the morning session and this allowed for drivers to post impressive times, which improved as the 90 minutes progressed.
Button, Vettel, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton took turns at the top of the timesheets before Webber moved in front just after the hour.
That did not last long, however, as Vettel responded with his 1:26.221, which was not to be beaten in the final 30 minutes.
Alonso did manage to improve his time to finish third ahead of the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus.
Hamilton posted the sixth fastest time of the afternoon to finish ahead of his McLaren team-mate, while Nico Hulkenberg took eighth in the Force India.
The Lotus of Romain Grosjean was ninth as Bruno Senna completed the top ten in the Williams.
It was far from an incident-free session with Felipe Massa spinning twice, first at Turn 11 and then at Turn 9. He was forced into a change of tyres after the first spin before complaining of a ‘very strange balance’, which ultimately brought his session to a close.
Vettel produced the quickest time in the opening practice session, clocking 1:27.619 to lead Button by 0.3seconds.
Drivers struggled with low grip on the circuit but that did not stop a number of them from producing an impressive time, with Alonso, Hamilton and Webber all going close to Vettel’s effort, which came in a frantic final five minutes.
Webber had been the man to catch for much of the session, but he struggled to lower his time late on and had to settle for fifth.
Rosberg was sixth in the first Mercedes with Massa seventh just ahead of Michael Schumacher and Daniel Ricciardo, with Raikkonen completing the top ten.
Indian Grand Prix, Practice 2 Results:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m26.221 35
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.339s + 0.118 33
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m26.820s + 0.599 34
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m27.022s + 0.801 38
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m27.030s + 0.809 40
6. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m27.131s + 0.910 38
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m27.182s + 0.961 24
8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m27.233s + 1.012 37
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m27.397s + 1.176 36
10. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m27.738s + 1.517 36
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m28.004s + 1.783 32
12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.178s + 1.957 39
13. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m28.222s + 2.001 37
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.239s + 2.018 37
15. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m28.296s + 2.075 23
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.455s + 2.234 40
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m28.596s + 2.375 38
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m29.167s + 2.946 35
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m29.320s + 3.099 43
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m29.606s + 3.385 22
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m30.950s + 4.729 37
22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m31.113s + 4.892 35
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m31.372s + 5.151 20
24. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m31.493s + 5.272 31
Practice 1 Results:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m27.619 22
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m27.929s + 0.310 22
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m28.044s + 0.425 24
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.046s + 0.427 25
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m28.175s + 0.556 22
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m28.447s + 0.828 25
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m28.542s + 0.923 24
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m28.993s + 1.374 23
9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m29.204s + 1.585 24
10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m29.291s + 1.672 24
11. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m29.691s + 2.072 26
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m29.760s + 2.141 23
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m29.802s + 2.183 1
14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m29.850s + 2.231 19
15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m29.895s + 2.276 19
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m30.041s + 2.422 26
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m30.401s + 2.782 23
18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m30.630s + 3.011 24
19. Giedo Van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m30.896s + 3.277 20
20. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.212s + 3.593 29
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m31.903s + 4.284 22
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m32.125s + 4.506 24
23. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m32.369s + 4.750 19
24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m32.859s + 5.240 13
