Japanese GP, Free Practice 2: Vettel precedes Webber

Sebastian Vettel set the best time in the second free practice session of the Japanese F1 GP. In Suzuka the German from Red Bull lapped in 1.33.852 ahead of his teammate, Mark Webber, by 168 thousandths. Nico Rosberg is third with Mercedes ahead of the Lotuses of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. The Finn lost a good part of the session due to an off-track accident. Sixth time for Hamilton ahead of Ricciardo and Button. Fernando Alonso was only tenth with the Ferrari but the Ferrari's pace in the long runs is encouraging.

chronicle
At the start of the second session all the drivers quickly took to the track, still on hard tyres. Ricciardo initially set the best time in 1.35.920, beaten shortly afterwards by Vettel with 1.34.746.

After the first ten minutes the two Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton took the lead but shortly after Vettel regained the lead of the standings with 1.34.487 while Maldonado crashed into the barriers at Degner, emerging unscathed.

Shortly afterwards Perez was also involved in an accident, at turn 13, when after a spin he crashed the side of the car into the barriers.

After the first 30 minutes the drivers put on medium tires to evaluate the pace over a single lap. Webber set the provisional best time in 1.34.020 ahead of Rosberg and Vettel while Alonso ended up spinning but managed to restart.

Vettel then took the lead with 1.33.852 while Hamilton moved into fourth place ahead of Massa, Button and Alonso.

The drivers then moved on to evaluate the race pace with used medium tires and plenty of fuel on board. Raikkonen ended up spinning at the Dunlop corner but his car got stuck in the gravel, forcing the Finn to end practice prematurely.

In long runs, with the same tires and presumably the same fuel load, Red Bull showed an advantage of around 9 tenths per lap over Mercedes. Ferrari is closer to Red Bull in race configuration.

No changes to the standings in the last minutes. Vettel finished with the best time ahead of Webber, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Massa, Button and Alonso.

F1 GP Japan 2013 – Suzuka – Free Practice times and results

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m33.852s 35 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m34.020s +0.168s 35 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.114s +0.262s 36 4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m34.202s +0.350s 17 5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m34.411s +0.559s 30 6. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.442s +0.590s 36 7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.473s +0.621 s 30 8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m34.698s +0.846s 35 9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.912s +1.060s 34 10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m35.087s +1.235s 32 11. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.089s +1.237s 36 12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.109s +1.257s 34 13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.182s +1.330s 34 14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m35.275s +1.423s 35 15. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m35.341s +1.489s 25 16. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.709s +1.857s 8 17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m36.136s +2.284s 41 18. Pastor Maldonado Williams- Renault 1m36.722s +2.870s 6 19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m37.630s +3.778s 31 20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m37.905s +4.053s 36 21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m38.121s +4.269 s 33