China – Free Practice 2: Schumacher, Emperor of the Middle

While the rain hindered the drivers’ progress this morning during Free Practice 1, all teams pulled out all the stops for the second free practice session.

At the start of the session, the drivers set off with the hardest tires offered by Pirelli, which did not prevent Lewis Hamilton from immediately being faster than during this morning’s session.

The first to mount the soft tires is Sebastian Vettel, who logically shows himself to be faster than the 2008 champion’s McLaren, placing himself half a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

The German driver uses the old specification of the RB8’s exhausts while Mark Webber has retained the latest developments introduced during the Barcelona tests last March. Webber finishes the day in 3rd position, just behind his teammate.

On the Shanghai circuit in dry conditions, it was ultimately Michael Schumacher who proved to be the fastest. He was ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who took the lead on the timesheet from his first stint on hard tires while all his competitors set their initial times on soft tires. The seven-time F1 world champion set his best time at the end of the session without being surpassed by Lewis Hamilton. The McLaren driver posted the best times in sectors 1 and 2 on his final lap but lost time in sector 3, thus missing out on setting the fastest time. Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button complete the top 6 in this second practice session.

On the French drivers’ side, Jean-Eric Vergne is the top Frenchman with the 14th time between the two Lotus cars of Räikkönen and Grosjean, 15th, while Charles Pic brings up the rear at the wheel of his Marussia.

Free Practice 2 Results of the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix: