Abu Dhabi – Free Practice 2: Vettel at Nightfall

After a first session held in broad daylight, Free Practice 2 opens with a setting sun and temperatures that will decrease, more closely matching what the drivers will face in qualifying and the race. Thus, on a track heated to 33°C, with an ambient temperature of 30°C, the drivers quickly head out as soon as the green light is illuminated at the end of the pit lane.

Sergio Pérez is the first driver to set a benchmark time of 1:45.703, but Sebastian Vettel soon goes under the one minute forty-four mark with a 1:43.323, just a tenth off the best time in Free Practice 1. The Briton’s best time only stood for five minutes, as Vettel completed a second fast lap in 1:43.067, still on Medium tires, the hardest brought by Pirelli.

After drawing the ire of Timo Glock in the morning, Michael Schumacher now provokes the anger of Kamui Kobayashi, as he appears not to have seen the Sauber at the entrance of the section winding around the marina. A few minutes later, the Japanese driver vents his frustration on an HRT driver drifting at the entrance of the passage under the hotel.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel drives the point home with a 1:42.779 lap time, although the McLaren drivers are getting ready to respond, with Jenson Button coming within 0.025 seconds of the German. Thus, after some improvements and only fifteen minutes of testing, Sebastian Vettel is ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Pérez, Romain Grosjean, and Nico Hülkenberg.

On the radio, as Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer suggests that he should pit to make some adjustments before heading back out with the same set of tires, the Briton deems it better to stay on track for an additional lap. The native of Stevenage lays down the fastest times in the first two sectors and finally clocks in at 1:42.095, nearly seven-tenths faster than Sebastian Vettel. Even though he improves, especially thanks to a strong third sector, the German remains nearly five-tenths behind Lewis Hamilton, around the same as Jenson Button.

As the session approaches its midpoint, Sergio Pérez is the first to switch to Soft tires, with yellow sidewalls, securing the twelfth fastest time at 1:43.855. Also on Soft tires, Jean-Eric Vergne seems to suffer a mechanical failure at the rear of his Toro Rosso as he approaches the braking zone of turn 11. The Frenchman limps back to the pits just as the leading drivers return to the track on soft tires, with the temperature having dropped by one degree compared to the start of the session.

Romain Grosjean is the first to record a noticeable improvement in his lap times by clocking a lap in 1:42.500, allowing him to climb to the second spot in the provisional standings. Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer, however, informs the Briton that everyone—including McLaren—seems to be struggling to find time with the Soft tires. Sebastian Vettel immediately proves him wrong by taking the top of the timesheet in 1:42.056, just 39 thousandths ahead of Hamilton. The German finds a few more tenths on the following lap and brings the mark below the one minute forty-two barrier, at 1:41.751. Lewis Hamilton responds with a 1:41.919 while the Ferraris are only in sixth and seventh positions.

At the start of the last half-hour, the drivers return to the pits to fill their single-seaters with fuel before beginning race work, with long stints, the drivers lapping six or seven seconds off their best times. It’s at this moment that Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham slips from under his control at turn 1, resulting in nothing more than a maneuver for the Russian. With more fuel on board, drivers make several minor judgment errors, and Karthikeyan spins at turn 17.

Under these conditions, the Ferraris seem to regain some form, showing a good and consistent pace, just like the McLarens. On the Red Bull side, after being stuck in the pits for a long time due to the skid block of his car scraping on the track and producing sparks, Mark Webber is back on the track with his RB8, from which a large quantity of fluid is leaking. The Australian returns to the pits after completing his lap and will not come back out.

At the end of the session, while Vettel makes multiple pit stops to fine-tune his car’s settings, Fernando Alonso is the fastest man on the track, even though each driver’s fuel levels are unknown. Nonetheless, at the checkered flag, the hierarchy remains unchanged.

Free Practice 2 Results of the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: