Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Sebastian Vettel fastest in second Singapore Grand Prix practice

Sebastian Vettel was quickest in second practice in Singapore, completing a strong start to the weekend that could see him crowned world champion for the second straight year

The Red Bull driver set the early practice two pace with a 1m47.375s lap - 0.7 seconds ahead of team-mate Mark Webber as the champion squad dominated the initial running.

Those times stood until drivers began switching to super-soft tyres in the second half of the session. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was the first of the frontrunners to do so and clocked a 1m47.120s to go quickest with 41 minutes to go. His team-mate Fernando Alonso then beat that time by 0.6s 10 minutes later to hit the front.

Vettel backed off on his first super-soft lap when he encountered Timo Glock's Virgin, but his second attempt resulted in a 1m46.374s, putting him on top by 0.201s over Alonso. With the top teams all switching to long runs thereafter, Vettel's position was secure.

Lewis Hamilton took third for McLaren, while his team-mate Jenson Button's evening ended very early when he slid straight on at Turn 14 just before the session's halfway point. Although Button stopped without hitting the barriers, he was unable to make his car reverse back on course, so had to abandon the McLaren. He tumbled to 10th in the times as a result.

Massa was pushed back to fourth in the end, just ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull.

Michael Schumacher's strong recent run continued with sixth place for Mercedes, followed by Adrian Sutil's Force India and the Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi. The latter enlivened the evening with a wild misjudging of the Turn 10 chicane that resulted in the Sauber flying through the air over the middle kerb.

A tough night for Toro Rosso saw Jaime Alguersuari sidelined in the garage with a mechanical issue after 14 laps, though his time before then was still good enough for 11th, and Sebastien Buemi derange his suspension when he made firm contact with the wall at the penultimate corner.

Schumacher also hit the barriers, in his case at Turn 3, as he almost spun the Mercedes on an early run. But the wall nudged the car back onto the correct line and Schumacher continued without damage.

Paul di Resta spent most of the session in the pits while Force India attended to a time-consuming issue on his car. He got back out with a few minutes to go, and was able to lift himself from 17th to 13th.


Pos  Driver                Team                    Time                Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m46.374s            33
 2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m46.575s  + 0.201   28
 3.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes        1m47.115s  + 0.741   22
 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m47.120s  + 0.746   23
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m47.265s  + 0.891   28
 6.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes                1m48.418s  + 2.044   27
 7.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1m48.866s  + 2.492   32
 8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari          1m49.578s  + 3.204   27
 9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari          1m49.730s  + 3.356   29
10.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m49.751s  + 3.377   10
11.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m49.792s  + 3.418   14
12.  Bruno Senna            Renault                1m50.241s  + 3.867   31
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m50.345s  + 3.971    8
14.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                 1m50.399s  + 4.025   29
15.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m50.790s  + 4.416   28
16.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1m50.897s  + 4.523   24
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth       1m50.937s  + 4.563   30
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault           1m51.950s  + 5.576   26
19.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m52.257s  + 5.883   15
20.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault           1m52.489s  + 6.115   25
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth         1m53.579s  + 7.205   25
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth         1m54.649s  + 8.275   25
23.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth            1m54.754s  + 8.380   29
24.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth            1m55.198s  + 8.824   26

All Timing Unofficial

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Jackie Stewart says Michael Schumacher's defence went too far at Monza
Next article Sebastian Vettel downplays Friday performance after topping practice times

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe