Vettel pips Alonso to top spot in FP2

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel ensured he stayed ahead of the competition.

Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull got back onto the top spot on the table after beating home boy Fernando Alonso by 0.017 seconds. The German endured a tough start to the practice consistently finishing behind team-mate Mark Webber; but as time went on and he began to understand the tyres, he took over the lead.

Ferrari and Alonso are enjoying a good weekend in Spain so far having shown great pace and balance throughout the seasons. Red Bull might have got the fastest time but at the end of the day, but the cars that prosper on long stints are the real winners and the drivers of Ferrari and Lotus nailed it.

Mercedes continued to struggle with tyre-ware issues, and this might be a problem for them during the race as well. Lewis Hamilton finished with a better time than his team mate, Nico Rosberg. The Brit happened to spin off during one of his laps which clearly indicated the state of tyres; and the worst part was that the tyres weren’t too old.

The Mclarens were touted to rise from their ashes, but got no where near the leaders with a poor weekend from the British team so far. Jenson Button looks to finish better than his team mate, Sergio Perez, but the Brit was way off the pace and acknowledged that the team needed to work a lot more if they wanted a result on Sunday.

Williams, who looked strong on the first practice, saw then slump back to their usual place. The midfield was packed with changes in positions coming in almost by the minute. Sauber improved their car, but again were no way close to where they’re supposed to be.

Force India continued to have a good day with both the drivers putting in good performances and the car has showed signs of delivering in tracks with pre-requisites like a high top speed.

The Toro Rossos, who were consistently beating the big guns in the last practice, dropped off the race only by a small margin. They’ll be hoping for a stronger performance on Saturday.