Sebastian Vettel has led a comfortable 1-2 on the timesheets as Friday’s two practice sessions were brought to a close for the Singapore Grand Prix, with the German clocking some seriously impressive times around the tricky Marina Bay circuit.
If Friday’s second practice session results were anything to go by, then the rest of the field may as well pack up and go home: Vettel and teammate Mark Webber were the only driver to lap in the 1m44s range, with the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton over a second adrift.
Vettel’s pace was simply astounding. With the street circuit now completely floodlight, Webber set the initial pace on the harder Pirelli tyres, before a switch to the softer option compound saw Vettel up his game, clocking a best time of 1:44.429 that was over six-tenths faster than his teammate.
Behind the two leading teams came Romain Grosjean, who was an encouraging fifth-quickest in his Lotus despite losing yet more time in the pit lane. The Frenchman beat home Fernando Alonso with his fastest flying lap.
Jenson Button was seventh quickest in his McLaren after a trouble-free run, winding up ahead of the second Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen, while Adrian Sutil and Sergio Pérez completed the top-ten.
Daniel Ricciardo showed much improved pace in his Toro Rosso, narrowly missing out on a top-ten spot in his Ferrari-powered car. The Australian was just two-hundredths of a second faster than teammate Jean-Éric Vergne, with the pair finishing just ahead of former Force India teammates Paul di Resta and Nico Hülkenberg.
Felipe Massa’s difficult weekend continued into FP2, with the Brazilian doing his prospects of landing the second Lotus seat no end of harm with a rather pathetic performance in this session. The Ferrari driver languished in fifteenth place , some 2.6 seconds slower than Vettel’s session-topping lap time.
The session had little in the way of major incidents, with a few drivers locking up and running wide over the course of the 90 minutes’ running. Pastor Maldonado provided the only major lowlight, with the Venezuelan overshooting Turn 13 as he exited Anderson Bridge, gently nosing his Williams into the barriers to earn a new front wing.
2013 Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:
Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps | ||
1. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Red Bull Racing Renault RB9 | 1:44.249 | 34 | |
2. | Mark Webber | ![]() |
Red Bull Racing Renault RB9 | 1:44.853 | + 0.604 | 30 |
3. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04 | 1:45.258 | + 1.009 | 34 |
4. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04 | 1:45.368 | + 1.119 | 33 |
5. | Romain Grosjean | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Renault E21 | 1:45.411 | + 1.162 | 18 |
6. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari F138 | 1:45.691 | + 1.442 | 32 |
7. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-28 | 1:45.754 | + 1.505 | 30 |
8. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
Lotus F1 Renault E21 | 1:45.778 | + 1.529 | 32 |
9. | Adrian Sutil | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM06 | 1:46.002 | + 1.753 | 27 |
10. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-28 | 1:46.025 | + 1.776 | 31 |
11. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8 | 1:46.406 | + 2.157 | 34 |
12. | Jean-Éric Vergne | ![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8 | 1:46.429 | + 2.180 | 33 |
13. | Paul di Resta | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM06 | 1:46.606 | + 2.357 | 33 |
14. | Nico Hülkenberg | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C32 | 1:46.808 | + 2.559 | 36 |
15. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari F138 | 1:46.870 | + 2.621 | 33 |
16. | Esteban Gutiérrez | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C32 | 1:47.287 | + 3.038 | 29 |
17. | Valtteri Bottas | ![]() |
Williams Renault FW35 | 1:47.434 | + 3.185 | 33 |
18. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Williams Renault FW35 | 1:47.761 | + 3.512 | 25 |
19. | Giedo van der Garde | ![]() |
Caterham Renault CT03 | 1:49.434 | + 5.185 | 34 |
20. | Charles Pic | ![]() |
Caterham Renault CT03 | 1:49.526 | + 5.277 | 34 |
21. | Max Chilton | ![]() |
Marussia Cosworth MR02 | 1:49.619 | + 5.370 | 33 |
22. | Jules Bianchi | ![]() |
Marussia Cosworth MR02 | 1:49.731 | + 5.482 | 30 |
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Richard Bailey
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