Germany – Free Practice 2: Vettel Sets the Record Straight!

It’s not much warmer than this morning as the second free practice session of the German Grand Prix begins. The temperature is 19 degrees in the air, but the track shows 29 degrees compared to the 19 this morning.

Session during which Fernando Alonso will have to make up some of the lost time from the first free practice. The Spaniard was sidelined due to gearbox issues in the first few minutes of the session.

You don’t have to wait very long to see action on the track this afternoon. After a few minutes, 15 drivers already have a lap time. The fastest at the moment is Romain Grosjean with a lap of 1:33.646. Time quickly improved by various drivers successively.

After the first quarter-hour, the top 5 is made up of Webber at 1:31.790, Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, and Massa. At this point, Fernando Alonso is 15th. The Spaniard steps up a few minutes later by displacing his teammate from the top 5.

Not many laps at the start of this session, they seem to be fine-tuning the settings in the garages. And at Red Bull, all this is of course done under the watchful eye of Adrian Newey.

Shortly before reaching the half-hour mark of testing, some drivers, including Webber, Hülkenberg, and Vergne, switch to soft tires. This allows for improved lap times at all levels of the hierarchy.

One hour before the end of the session, Webber still leads with a reference time of 1:30.874, ahead of Rosberg, Hamilton, Vergne, and Ricciardo. The Australian driver from Toro Rosso improves in the following minutes to place 3rd while Vettel moves into the top position of this session. The trio is thus composed of 3 Red Bull-marked cars. But the hierarchy is constantly changing, and the Mercedes team is making a comeback.

At the other end of the standings, Jules Bianchi is the least active with only 7 laps completed. The Frenchman did not drive this morning, however.

At mid-race, Vettel leads the way with 1:30.416. The triple world champion is followed by Rosberg, Webber, Alonso, and Massa.

30 minutes from the checkered flag, the two Lotus cars of Grosjean and Räikkönen move into 4th and 5th position ahead of the two Ferraris. The top three, however, remain unchanged. There will not be many more changes in this final part of the session, which is traditionally dedicated to long runs in preparation for the race.

At the end of the 90 minutes, it is Sebastian Vettel who finishes at the top of this session ahead of Rosberg, Webber, Grosjean, and Räikkönen. Alonso, Massa, Hamilton, Button, and Di Resta complete the top 10. It was a less productive day for Jules Bianchi, who only did 10 laps today.

Results of Free Practice 2 of the 2013 German Grand Prix

From our special correspondent at the Nürburgring