Indian GP – Free Practice 2: The Ferraris Surround Sebastian Vettel

The first news from this second free practice session is the penalty of Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez of 3 places on the grid for improving their FP1 time under a yellow flag.

Between the two sessions, Fernando Alonso’s engine was replaced after his morning breakdown, while Jérôme d’Ambrosio was the first to go for a fast lap, quickly followed by numerous drivers.

After 10 minutes, all the drivers took off, and the 1’30 barrier quickly fell under the pressure of Sebastien Buemi and Sebastian Vettel. Pastor Maldonado retired after just 13 minutes of the second session due to a small error, as he placed his car in the gravel without damage but remained stuck, causing a yellow flag. End of the session for the second Williams driver. After the end of this yellow flag, Lewis Hamilton set the provisional fastest time ahead of the Swiss Toro Rosso driver. The Brit improved further with a 1:26.618, faster than his morning time.

Bruno Senna experiences a few scares while trying to overtake Narain Karthikeyan and shows signs of frustration with one or two off-track moments. After a lap behind the wheels of a Force India, Sebastian Vettel sets the fastest time of the session while the Williams mechanics retrieve Pastor Maldonado’s car. Jenson Button records the 3rd fastest time, ahead of Felipe Massa, who is constantly attacking. The Mercedes drivers, who seem in good form this morning, appear to be focusing on race preparation, with slower times. The Brazilian Ferrari driver then sets the second fastest time, while Bruno Senna climbs to eighth place. Mark Webber, meanwhile, is in the garage for checks on his RB7. Jérôme d’Ambrosio makes a mistake at turn 12 by taking too much of the curb, and crashes the back of his car into the wall, with the rear-right wheel destroying the rear wing of the Virgin, causing a red flag 37 minutes before the end of the session.

After this interruption, many drivers return to the race, and Sebastian Vettel takes the opportunity to set the fastest time at 1:25.794, while Fernando Alonso misses out by 0.004 seconds to Lewis Hamilton. But it’s ultimately Felipe Massa who snatches second place, more than half a second behind the double world champion, before Fernando Alonso takes the second time from him. But the Brazilian hasn’t said his last word and sets the fastest time with a front wing that touches the ground on a few occasions. The end of the session seems dedicated to race simulations, as the Mercedes drivers have done throughout the session. Vitaly Petrov also makes a mistake but can continue normally afterwards.

It is therefore Felipe Massa who recorded the best time of this first day of testing, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, with McLarens slightly behind.

Results of Free Practice 2 – India Grand Prix – Friday, October 28 /f1/news/11758-hamilton-and-perez-demoted-on-the-starting-grid-in-india.html: