GP China, Free Practice 2: Schumacher ahead of everyone

Best time for Michael Schumacher in the second free practice session on Friday of the Chinese Formula 1 GP. After the rain had affected the morning session, all the teams carried out an intense program in the afternoon.

Lewis Hamilton immediately took the lead in the early stages on the medium Pirelli tyres. In the first runs all the drivers opted for the prime tire and the Englishman trailed Schumacher by 134 thousandths with Vettel two tenths behind. Hamilton and the German from Mercedes also used the medium tires in the second run while Kamui Kobayashi jumped to third place after the first half hour. A few minutes later the Japanese managed to continue after going off the track.

Vettel was the first of the top teams to fit soft tires, easily beating Hamilton's time. Mark Webber, who tested the latest version of the exhaust unlike his teammate - who returned to the specification from the winter tests - moved into second place behind Vettel halfway through the session.

While the Red Bulls took 3 laps to get the most out of the soft tyres, Hamilton and Schumacher managed to make the most of the soft compound straight away. Schumacher lapped in 1.35.973 but Hamilton, despite being ahead in the first two sectors, lost time in the final stretch, closing 172 thousandths behind the German.
Behind them the two Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber, the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and the other McLaren of Jenson Button. Seventh time for Kobayashi ahead of the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg. Only tenth Fernando Alonso with Ferrari, the Spaniard was unable to make the most of his run with the problems.

Several went off the track: di Resta and Vitaly Petrov spun at the last corner while Timo Glock crashed after losing his front wing at the first corner. The pilot who initially reported pain in his hands was uninjured.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m35.973 32 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.145s + 0.172 29 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.160s + 0.187 26 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.433 .0.460s + 23 5 1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 36.617m0.644s + 30 6 1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 36.711m0.738s + 27 7 1. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 36.956m0.983s + 28 8 1. Paul di Resta Force India- Mercedes 36.966m0.993s + 30 9 1. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 37.191m1.218s + 30 10 1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 37.316m1.343s + 32 11 1. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 37.417m1.444s + 22 12 1. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 37.616m1.643s + 33 13 1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 37.836m1.863s + 30 14 1. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 37.930m1.957s + 31 15 1. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 37.972m1.999s + 25 16 1. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 38.176m2.203s + 34 17 1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 38.293m2.320s + 30 18 1. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 38.783m2.810s + 37 19 1. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 38.990m3.017. 36s + 20 1 39.346. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 3.373m19s + 21 1 39.651. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 3.678m15s + 22 1 40.343. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 4.370m24s + 23 1 40.753. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 4.780m30 .XNUMXs + XNUMX XNUMX