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Spanish GP: Vettel edges out Alonso in second Friday practice

Sebastian Vettel narrowly edged out home favourite Fernando Alonso to set the fastest time in second free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix

Just 0.083 seconds covered the top three at Barcelona, as Alonso's Ferrari split the Red Bulls of Vettel and Mark Webber.

After an early all-Mercedes battle for the top spot, it was Alonso and the Red Bulls that dominated the lead order through the low-fuel runs.

Webber kicked off the dice with a 1m23.112s after 22 minutes, but was deposed by Alonso on a 1m23.030s five minutes later.

When they switched to the softer medium tyres shortly afterwards, Webber reclaimed first place by 0.2s over Alonso, before Vettel jumped ahead of them both.

Alonso's retaliation managed to get him back in front of Webber, but Vettel remained just out of reach.

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus and Felipe Massa's Ferrari completed the top five.

Lewis Hamilton spun his Mercedes at Turn 11 during the early runs, swiftly rejoining without problems and ultimately taking sixth ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Tyre wear was again high and there was a scare at Force India when Paul di Resta's left rear delaminated on the main straight, forcing the Scot to park on the grass. He was still 10th quickest, two places behind team-mate Adrian Sutil.

Jean-Eric Vergne split them, in a strong performance for Toro Rosso, which also had Daniel Ricciardo in 11th.

McLaren was only 12th and 13th with Jenson Button and Sergio Perez as it began to evaluate its major upgrade package, including a new front wing.


Pos Driver                Team                  Time      Gap       Laps
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m22.808s            34
 2. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m22.825s  + 0.017s  35
 3. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m22.891s  + 0.083s  36
 4. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m23.030s  + 0.222s  32
 5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m23.110s  + 0.302s  37
 6. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m23.140s  + 0.332s  35
 7. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m23.398s  + 0.590s  45
 8. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m23.840s  + 1.032s  37
 9. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.058s  + 1.250s  31
10. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m24.104s  + 1.296s  25
11. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.175s  + 1.367s  32
12. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.306s  + 1.498s  35
13. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.854s  + 2.046s  31
14. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m24.888s  + 2.080s  38
15. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.167s  + 2.359s  38
16. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m25.321s  + 2.513s  32
17. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.441s  + 2.633s  37
18. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m25.851s  + 3.043s  35
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m25.963s  + 3.155s  30
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m26.078s  + 3.270s  31
21. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m26.930s  + 4.122s  35
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m26.970s  + 4.162s  25

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