Indian GP: Vettel and Red Bull stay on top in FP2

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel made his intentions clear by topping the second practice session in India. Mark Webber was again second fastest to ensure a Red Bull one-two at the top of the timesheets. But this time the German was nearly three tenths quicker than his departing teammate. Red Bull’s dominance was not the only problem as team were encountering massive graining on soft tyres, particularly with their left front.

Romain Grosjean was half a second slower, clearing showing the advantage Red Bull have at this race. Lewis Hamilton upped his game to end up fourth fastest, two tenths slower than Romain Grosjean’s 1:26.220. Fernando Alonso was fifth fastest for Ferrari after a gearbox issue earlier this morning while Nico Rosberg was sixth fastest in the second Mercedes.

The latter’s lap time was just two hundredths of a second quicker than Felipe Massa who ended the session in seventh.Kimi Raikkonen was nowhere close to his teammate as he finished the session in eighth place with a lap time of 1:26.632; nine tenths slower than Vettel’s benchmark and four tenths slower than his teammate.

McLarens were ninth and tenth in the session, but this time it was Sergio Perez who led the British team. The gap between the two was just over tenth off a second.

Single lap specialist Daniel Ricciardo was eleventh fastest ahead of Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Williams Valterri Bottas. Nico Hulkenberg ended 14th fastest ahead of Paul di Resta, the latter having his first outing on track having missed FP1.

Maldonado had a big moment when his loose wheel nut fell on his out lap. Williams might be in big trouble following this incident after a similar issue in Japan resulted in a €60,000 fine. Raikkonen spun at one of the corners while Hulkenberg had an outing at turn 10.