Singapore – Free Practice 2: Vettel Under the Stars

28°C in the air, 27°C on the track: the Singaporean night has fallen but the temperatures remain very pleasant for this second free practice session.

The first driver to leave the pitlane is Charles Pic in his Marussia, followed by Sergio Pérez in a Sauber and Pastor Maldonado in a Williams. Pérez is already on the attack and brushes the wall at the Stadium corner, then misses the infamous Singapore Sling where he goes straight on before getting back on track without any issues.

The drivers have fitted the soft (yellow) tires. Paul Di Resta (Force India) brushes the barrier at the exit of the corners and temporarily takes the lead with a 1:51.414, nearly two seconds ahead of Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso). Maldonado narrows the gap by falling short by two-tenths.

Jenson Button (McLaren) tops the timesheets with a 1:50.837, while further down the circuit, a collision was avoided between Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Narain Karthikeyan (HRT) who moved back after being overtaken. Mark Webber (Red Bull) provisionally takes second position, 5 tenths behind Button. Maldonado comes very close to the Briton, at 35 thousandths. Lewis Hamilton is the first man to outpace his teammate, with a time of 1:50.561.

After fifteen minutes in this session, Hamilton leads Button (+0.2), Maldonado (+0.3), Webber (+0.3), and Rosberg (+0.6). The drivers are pushing the limits and making some small mistakes, like Sebastian Vettel cutting the chicane or Massa slightly off track. The reigning double world champion subsequently takes the lead from Hamilton by 64 thousandths, despite complaining about a lack of grip on the front end.

Four cars are on the track with more than an hour and five minutes left in these Free Practice 2 sessions. Lewis Hamilton, informed by his radio that he is slower than everyone else in the last sector, improves the best time and achieves 1:50.074. Bruno Senna (Williams) and Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) are testing the super-soft (red) tires; a conclusive test for the Brazilian, whose pit crew advises him not to stay out too long on these fragile but fast tires.

After half an hour, Hamilton leads Vettel (+0.4), Alonso (+0.6), Button (+0.7), and Maldonado (+0.7). Alonso’s Ferrari seems very stiff and requires a tense drive; the Spaniard is doing very well. The same goes for Kimi Räikkönen’s Lotus, which is only fourteenth at the moment, just a few thousandths behind his teammate Romain Grosjean.

At the exit of turn 19, Bruno Senna makes a mistake and hits the wall. The Brazilian’s car comes to a stop right in the middle of the track, causing a yellow flag to allow the marshals to safely remove the Williams. However, the damage to the rear left wheel of the FW34 prevents the marshals from acting effectively and the session is put under a red flag. Time ticks by but the cars can no longer take to the track.

After forty-five minutes, the session resumed, and the order remains unchanged: Hamilton is still ahead of Vettel, Alonso, Button, and Maldonado. Petrov, Rosberg, Vettel, and Massa were the first to return to the track. The Brazilian, on super-soft tires, takes the first place by 0.035 seconds. Despite a huge mistake in the last corners, Hamilton reclaims his lead by nearly a second, on super-softs, with a time of 1:49.086. Webber makes his mark and moves to P1, becoming the first driver under the 48-minute mark with 1:48.964. All the drivers have opted for the super-soft tires, which explains this wave of improvements.

Räikkönen and then Schumacher hit the top 5, with times 1.3 seconds behind Mark Webber. Alonso, who was one of the last drivers not to have fitted the super-soft tires, set the best time at 1:48.896, 68 thousandths ahead of Webber. Meanwhile, it’s Kobayashi who makes a mistake in the Singapore Sling, he nearly crashes but stays on track. Button improves the time as well, clocking in at 1:48.651 and temporarily sits at the top of the timing sheets.

After an hour, Vettel takes the lead of the session, with a time of 1:48.340, ahead of Button (+0.3), Alonso (+0.5), Webber (+0.6), and Hamilton (+0.7). Vergne brushes the walls while most drivers are on stints with varying fuel loads. At the back of the pack, Glock is ahead of the two Caterhams and his teammate, Pic, who has positioned himself between the two Malaysian cars.

After one hour and fifteen minutes, the ranking has not changed: Vettel leads Button, Alonso, Webber, and Hamilton. Almost all drivers are on track and on long runs. Sergio Pérez livens up the end of the session a bit by going straight at the exit of turn 4. The only driver improving his performance is Karthikeyan, who sets a time of 1:54.514, just 66 thousandths behind his teammate, Pedro de la Rosa. The McLaren team informs Hamilton that his pace is very consistent and very good.

The session thus concludes with the status quo and a final spin by Kamui Kobayashi under the stadium grandstand. It is Sebastian Vettel who sets the fastest time, ahead of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

Free Practice 2 Results of the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix: