GP China, Free Practice 2: Massa in the lead

Raikkonen, Alonso and Rosberg follow. Vettel tenth

di Gianluca LatinaApril 12, 2013

Formula 1 Photos - Chinese Grand Prix, first photos from Shanghai

Felipe Massa is the driver who set the best time in the second Free Practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix. The Brazilian set the fastest lap in 1:35.340, taking first place, followed by Kimi Raikkonen just over a tenth behind. Third Alonso at 4 tenths. Behind him Rosberg, Webber, Button and Hamilton. Tenth position for Sebastian Vettel who nevertheless demonstrated that he has a good race pace.

In the first part of the session the teams focused on some aerodynamic tests. Gutierrez was the first driver to hit the track. Initially Rosberg and Hamilton led the standings, setting the pace for the first half of the session.

After just twenty minutes, Mark Webber took to the track on the soft compound tyre. The Australian thus managed to overtake Rosberg and take the lead even if the German immediately returned to the front as soon as the soft tires were fitted.

The second half of the session saw Ferrari as the protagonist. First Felipe Massa's time on soft tires which took him to the top of the day's standings, then the pace he kept in the long runs ahead of the race on both medium and soft tyres. Fernando Alonso also improved his times, moving into third place, 4 tenths behind his teammate.

Rosberg therefore dropped to fourth place after the inclusion of Kimi Raikkonen in second place. Slight recovery for McLaren with Jenson Button finishing in sixth position ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel is only tenth behind the Force Indias of Sutil and Paul di Resta. Pérez, who had gone wide at the entrance to the pit lane, damaging the car, obtained eleventh position.

Jules Bianchi had initially surprised with the soft tire by placing himself in eleventh position. However, the Marussia driver finished nineteenth. Last was his teammate who had problems with oil pressure during the first laps, a problem that seemed to have been resolved but which occurred in the final laps and forced the driver to stop the car along the track.

Times of Free Practice 2 of the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix

Pos	Nat.	Rider	Team	Time	Detachment	Laps
1.	BRA	F. Massa	Ferrari Ferrari	1:35.340		32
2.	END	K. Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	1:35.492	0.152	32
3.	SPA	F. Alonso	Ferrari Ferrari	1:35.755	0.415	30
4.	GER	N. Rosberg	Mercedes Mercedes	1:35.819	0.479	35
5.	AUS	M. Webber	Red Bull Renault	1:36.092	0.752	31
6.	GBR	J. Button	McLaren Mercedes	1:36.432	1.092	29
7.	GBR	L. Hamilton	Mercedes Mercedes	1:36.496	1.156	39
8.	GER	A. Sutil	Force India Mercedes	1:36.514	1.174	32
9.	GBR	P. di Resta	Force India Mercedes	1:36.595	1.255	33
10.	GER	S. Vettel	Red Bull Renault	1:36.791	1.451	27
11.	MEX	S.Perez	McLaren Mercedes	1:36.940	1.600	16
12.	FRA	R. Grosjean	Lotus Renault	1:36.963	1.623	31
13.	MEX	E. Gutierrez	Sauber Ferrari	1:37.103	1.763	22
14.	AUS	D. Ricciardo	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:37.206	1.866	39
15.	FRA	J. Vergne	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1:38.127	2.787	34
16.	END	V. Bottas	Williams Renault	1:38.185	2.845	18
17.	GER	N. Hulkenberg	Sauber Ferrari	1:38.211	2.871	32
18.	VEN	P. Maldonado	Williams Renault	1:38.276	2.936	34
19.	FRA	J.Bianchi	Marussia Cosworth	1:38.725	3.385	29
20.	NET	G. Garde	Caterham Renault	1:39.271	3.931	21
21.	FRA	C.Pic	Caterham Renault	1:39.814	4.474	27
22.	GBR	M. Chilton	Marussia Cosworth	1:43.227	7.887	5