» 2013 Italian GP: Vettel dominates second practice session

Red Bull Racing notched up another ominous practice session where they dominated proceedings in their usual form. Sebastian Vettel comfortably led teammate Mark Webber by a large sixth-tenths of a second in the Australian veteran’s final race on European soil.

Despite running an upgraded long-wheelbase, Kimi Räikkönen posted an identical lap time to teammate Romain Grosjean, who was running the standard-spec E21. The time the two Lotuses posted was a 1:25.116, just 0.040s behind Webber.

Ferrari is looking to have a positive weekend, with Fernando Alonso ending up in fifth position, two tenths off Räikkönen and Grosjean. Along with the Lotus, the Ferrari performed well during their timed flying lap pace, and weren’t too far off the pace of Red Bull in race simulation.

Mercedes were lacking a few tenths during their high fuel load runs, however they’re still posting competitive lap times over a flying lap, proving they can still be a threat Sunday providing they qualify well.

Alonso’’s teammate Felipe Massa was joined by the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Sergio Pérez to round off the top ten, albeit a second off Vettel’s best lap. Pérez, on the medium tyre, was a further 0.1 seconds off his teammate’s best lap on the hard tyre.

A poor practice session saw the Toro Rosso boys finish down in 15th and 17th positions, sandwiching the equally underperforming car of Nico Hülkenberg. Red Bull-bound Daniel Ricciardo branded his run on the medium-compound tyre ‘a disaster.’

Max Chilton is starting to show his talent, finishing ahead of both Caterhams and his teammate Jules Bianchi, who finished the session slowest, although the Frenchman’s showing was no doubt in part due to having to sit out of the opening practice session while the team’s pay-reserve driver Rodolfo González had another practice outing.

2013 Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault RB9	1:24.453		39
2.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault RB9	1:25.076	+ 0.623	39
3.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Renault E21	1:25.116	+ 0.663	36
4.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Renault E21	1:25.116	+ 0.663	40
5.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F138	1:25.330	+ 0.877	38
6.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04	1:25.340	+ 0.887	39
7.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04	1:25.367	+ 0.914	42
8.	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari F138	1:25.519	+ 1.066	29
9.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-28	1:25.532	+ 1.079	42
10.	Sergio Pérez	McLaren Mercedes MP4-28	1:25.627	+ 1.174	39
11.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM06	1:25.830	+ 1.377	40
12.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber Ferrari C32	1:25.888	+ 1.435	40
13.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM06	1:26.028	+ 1.575	37
14.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault FW35	1:26.138	+ 1.685	36
15.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8	1:26.224	+ 1.771	32
16.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber Ferrari C32	1:26.385	+ 1.932	43
17.	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8	1:26.599	+ 2.146	39
18.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Renault FW35	1:27.198	+ 2.745	44
19.	Max Chilton	Marussia Cosworth MR02	1:27.548	+ 3.095	30
20.	Charles Pic	Caterham Renault CT03	1:27.696	+ 3.243	37
21.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Renault CT03	1:27.771	+ 3.318	38
22.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia Cosworth MR02	1:28.057	+ 3.604	32