No doubt to the delight of his home fans, Fernando Alonso has ended Friday’s running of the European Grand Prix weekend in the best possible fashion, by finishing the second practice session fastest overall.
With the super-soft Pirelli compounds available for the first time this weekend, the Spaniard posted a fastest lap of 1:37.968 to beat Lewis Hamilton to the top spot by just 0.2 seconds.
After a quiet morning’s running – where it is rumoured he was testing Red Bull’s British GP-spec exhaust system – Sebastian Vettel finished the session third-fastest, while Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa completed the top-five.
Jenson Button manhandled his oversteering McLaren to sixth-fastest, while Mark Webber – quickest in this morning’s practice session – finished seventh-fastest, just half a second off Alonso’s pace.
The top-ten was completed by Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov.
Paul di Resta completed just a handful of laps on his first outing on the circuit this weekend, with the Scot joining the circuit in the closing minutes while his Force India mechanics carried out frantic repairs to his car, which was damaged after test driver Nico Hülkenberg slapped the wall in the opening session this morning.
Jaime Alguersuari failed to complete any mileage in this session after his Toro Rosso developed an engine problem.
————————————————————————————————————-
2011 European Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:
Driver | Team | Time | Laps | ||
1. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
Ferrari F150° Italia | 1:37.968 | 35 |
2. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-26 | + 0.227 | 26 |
3. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Red Bull Renault RB7 | + 0.297 | 31 |
4. | Michael Schumacher | ![]() |
Mercedes GP W02 | + 0.347 | 30 |
5. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Ferrari F150° Italia | + 0.475 | 32 |
6. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-26 | + 0.515 | 30 |
7. | Mark Webber | ![]() |
Red Bull Renault RB7 | + 0.563 | 26 |
8. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes GP W02 | + 1.013 | 33 |
9. | Nick Heidfeld | ![]() |
Renault R31 | + 1.072 | 35 |
10. | Vitaly Petrov | ![]() |
Renault R31 | + 1.618 | 27 |
11. | Adrian Sutil | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM04 | + 1.658 | 31 |
12. | Rubens Barrichello | ![]() |
Williams Cosworth FW33 | + 2.052 | 34 |
13. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Williams Cosworth FW33 | + 2.333 | 34 |
14. | Paul di Resta | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM04 | + 2.395 | 7 |
15. | Sébastien Buemi | ![]() |
Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6 | + 2.486 | 32 |
16. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C30 | + 2.563 | 37 |
17. | Kamui Kobayashi | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C30 | + 4.115 | 34 |
18. | Heikki Kovalainen | ![]() |
Lotus Renault T128 | + 4.188 | 39 |
19. | Jarno Trulli | ![]() |
Lotus Renault T128 | + 4.271 | 25 |
20. | Timo Glock | ![]() |
Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02 | + 4.305 | 21 |
21. | Jérôme d’Ambrosio | ![]() |
Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02 | + 4.841 | 36 |
22. | Vitantonio Liuzzi | ![]() |
HRT F1 Cosworth F111 | + 6.492 | 29 |
23. | Narain Karthikeyan | ![]() |
HRT F1 Cosworth F111 | + 8.938 | 16 |
24. | Jaime Alguersuari | ![]() |
Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6 | no time |
[Images via GP Update]
Richard Bailey
Latest posts by Richard Bailey (see all)
- WTCR: Guerrieri outwits Muller at the Nordschleife - 26 September, 2020
- WTCR: Girolami breaks Nordschleife lap record to claim pole - 25 September, 2020
- WTCR: Hyundai withdraws from Germany round - 24 September, 2020
- WTCR: Ehrlacher leads Lynk & Co podium sweep at Zolder - 13 September, 2020
- WTCR: Girolami kicks off 2020 season with victory - 13 September, 2020