» 2012 Indian GP: Vettel’s hot practice form continues

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