Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing’s dominance of the 2012 Indian Grand Prix has continued, with the reigning World Champion backing up his morning’s practice pace by posting the fastest overall time as today’s second free practice running drew to a close.
Vettel led a team 1-2 on the timesheets, beating home team-mate Mark Webber by just 0.118 seconds, while Fernando Alonso was the outfit’s closest challenger, even though the Ferrari was almost six-tenths slower than Vettel’s best effort.
Having shown itself to be Red Bull’s closest challenger this morning, McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button slipped down the order as the team continued to experiment with new parts and run heavier fuel loads. The pair finished the session as the sixth- and seventh-fastest respectively, allowing Nico Rosberg and Kimi Räikkönen to instead complete the top-five.
With conditions still proving slippery, the session saw a number of spins, not least of which being two separate moments for Felipe Massa. Bruno Senna – having his first outing of the weekend – had a spin in his Williams, while Romain Grosjean also managed to loop his Lotus during the afternoon’s running.
Having missed the morning’s session while trying to stage a rapid recovery from a heavy cold, Sergio Pérez was back behind the wheel for Sauber, finishing the session as the thirteenth-fastest driver.
2012 Indian Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:
Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps | ||
1. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Red Bull Racing Renault RB8 | 1:26.221 | 35 | |
2. | Mark Webber | ![]() |
Red Bull Racing Renault RB8 | 1:26.339 | + 0.118 | 33 |
3. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari F2012 | 1:26.820 | + 0.599 | 34 |
4. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG F1 W03 | 1:27.022 | + 0.801 | 38 |
5. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Renault E20 | 1:27.030 | + 0.809 | 40 |
6. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-27 | 1:27.131 | + 0.910 | 38 |
7. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-27 | 1:27.182 | + 0.961 | 24 |
8. | Nico Hülkenberg | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM05 | 1:27.233 | + 1.012 | 37 |
9. | Romain Grosjean | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Renault E20 | 1:27.397 | + 1.176 | 36 |
10. | Bruno Senna | ![]() |
Williams Renault FW34 | 1:27.738 | + 1.517 | 36 |
11. | Paul di Resta | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM05 | 1:28.004 | + 1.783 | 32 |
12. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C31 | 1:28.178 | + 1.957 | 39 |
13. | Michael Schumacher | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG F1 W03 | 1:28.222 | + 2.001 | 37 |
14. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7 | 1:28.239 | + 2.018 | 37 |
15. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari F2012 | 1:28.296 | + 2.075 | 23 |
16. | Kamui Kobayashi | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C31 | 1:28.455 | + 2.234 | 40 |
17. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Williams Renault FW34 | 1:28.596 | + 2.375 | 38 |
18. | Jean-Éric Vergne | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR7 | 1:29.167 | + 2.946 | 35 |
19. | Heikki Kovalainen | ![]() |
Caterham Renault CT01 | 1:29.320 | + 3.099 | 43 |
20. | Vitaly Petrov | ![]() |
Caterham Renault CT01 | 1:29.606 | + 3.385 | 22 |
21. | Pedro de la Rosa | ![]() |
HRTF1 Cosworth F112 | 1:30.950 | + 4.729 | 37 |
22. | Timo Glock | ![]() |
Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01 | 1:31.113 | + 4.892 | 35 |
23. | Narain Karthikeyan | ![]() |
HRTF1 Cosworth F112 | 1:31.372 | + 5.151 | 20 |
24. | Charles Pic | ![]() |
Marussia Racing Cosworth MR01 | 1:31.493 | + 5.272 | 31 |
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Richard Bailey
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