European GP, ​​Free Practice 2: Vettel dominates, Alonso seventh at 4 tenths

In the second free practice session at the European GP in Valencia, balance reigns supreme, with seven riders within four tenths. The best on the Soft tires was Sebastian Vettel, capable of lapping in 1'39”334.

The Red Bull world champion preceded a series of outsiders who took advantage of the performance of the softer tyres, while the big names were busy testing over the race distance: and so in second place stood Nico Hulkneberg's Force India, which closed 131 thousandths behind his compatriot. Behind him, an excellent third place for the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi, 261 thousandths behind: the Japanese precedes Michael Schumacher, who with the Mercedes finishes just 6 thousandths behind the driver of the Swiss team. Fifth place for Bruno Senna with the Williams just over three tenths behind Vettel: it is also an excellent performance for the Grove team, which follows the best time set by Pastor Maldonado in FP1. Behind Senna, Paul Di Resta closes at half a tenth with Force India, confirming the excellent form of the Indian car, while Fernando Alonso remains within four tenths of a thousandth of a second from Red Bull with his Ferrari F2012. For the Spaniard, fighting for the lead for a long time with Schumacher in the middle of the session, a great job at the end with the Medium tyres, and in the end he completed 34 laps, the third best performance of the day.

Behind the Ferrari driver, Romain Grosjean's Lotus took eighth place, 534 thousandths behind Vettel; Mark Webber in the second Red Bull and Nico Rosberg in the other Mercedes follow very closely, with gaps of less than six tenths. Several big names are missing from the Top 10: Kimi Raikkonen finishes 11th, half a tenth behind teammate Grosjean, then Jenson Button with McLaren; Maldonado precedes the other Mp4/27 of Lewis Hamilton, who takes 813 thousandths from his German rival, while Felipe Massa with the other Ferrari finishes 15th, one tenth behind Hamilton. For the McLarens there was a long process of evaluating the Soft tires with a full tank of fuel, while the Brazilian from Ferrari completed 35 laps evaluating the innovations introduced by the Prancing Horse on this track. Worth noting is a bad accident for Pedro De La Rosa: the HRT Spaniard crashed at turn 14, destroying the left suspension of his car but without suffering any physical consequences. F1 will take to the track again tomorrow morning with FP3 to continue its free practice in Valencia, before Qualifying scheduled for the afternoon.

Lorena Bianchi

Here are the FP2 times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m39.334 33 2. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m39.465s + 0.131 32 3. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.595s + 0.261 20 4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m39.601 .0.267s + 27 5 1. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 39.644m0.310s + 34 6 1. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 39.700m0.366s + 32 7 1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 39.733m0.399s + 34 8 1. Romain Grosjean Lotus- Renault 39.868m0.534s + 33 9 1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 39.901m0.567s + 30 10 1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 39.926m0.592s + 32 11 1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 39.945m0.611s + 34 12 1. Jenson Button McLaren -Mercedes 39.990m0.656s + 33 13 1. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 40.075m0.741s + 29 14 1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 40.147m0.813s + 25 15 1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 40.244m0.910s + 35 16 1. Sergio Perez Sauber -Ferrari 40.511m1.177s + 29 17 1. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 40.963m1.629s + 20 18 1. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 41.121m1.787s + 32 19 1. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 41.197m1.863s + 38 20 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 41.263m1.929s + 29 21 1. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 42.424m3.090s + 21 22 1. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 42.958m3.624s + 30 23 1. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 44.201m4.867 s + 33 24 1. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 44.260m4.926s + 12 XNUMX