Free Practice 2: Alonso delivers a strong performance, ahead of Buemi!

The second Free Practice session of the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix was dominated by Fernando Alonso for Renault.

In this second test session of the day at Interlagos, the rain continued to disrupt the drivers and teams. It’s cool, around 20°C in the ambient air and over 24°C on the track, but raindrops are falling on the winding circuit. A light rain started at the beginning of the session and lasted for more than thirty minutes. The first drivers to take to the track, perhaps the bravest, are Heidfeld, Vettel, Liuzzi, Buemi, Rosberg, and Kobayashi. Some returned directly to the garage, and Kobayashi set an initial benchmark time of 1’14”7.

Fernando Alonso languished at the back of the pack for most of this Friday afternoon’s free practice session at Interlagos until, fitted with new super-soft tires and a minimal fuel load, he seized the best time at the checkered flag. Renault’s star driver recorded a time of 1:12.314, eclipsing the morning’s best time set by Mark Webber by a tenth of a second. Sébastien Buemi was credited with the second-best time, followed by Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber, and Jenson Button.

Despite the intermittent rain, Buémi proved that his speed at Suzuka was not undeserved and that the latest developments of the Toro Rosso are working. Only Alonso managed to dislodge the young Swiss from the top of the timesheets. The two Brawn GP cars are in the top 5 with Barrichello third and Jenson Button fifth. It’s interesting to note that the two drivers seem to have chosen different setups, as Rubens is much faster in the first sector while Button finds his speed in the third sector. The two drivers are equally matched in the second sector of the circuit.

Mark Webber confirms his good form from the morning by setting the fourth fastest time, precisely two-tenths off the best time. His teammate Sebastian Vettel is in 7th place, less than a tenth of a second behind Webber and therefore Button, his rival. Jarno Trulli achieved an admirable 6th time to show he still has what it takes and to impress potential future employers.

Nico Rosberg superbly drove throughout the session to place his Williams-Toyota in eighth place, just ahead of Adrian Sutil who took good advantage of his less efficient aerodynamics compared to other cars. Sutil found balanced settings and ranked in the top ten in each sector. For comparison, Webber and Vettel are respectively 14th and 15th in the third sector of the circuit. Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren complete the top 10.

Romain Grosjean sets the eleventh fastest time, 0.5 seconds behind his teammate and session leader, Fernando Alonso. He is ahead of Robert Kubica, who is twelfth, and the two Japanese drivers on the grid in this order, Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima, both still without a seat for next season.

Nick Heidfeld, credited with the highest top speed, is 15th ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi, who is struggling with the setup of his car on this circuit where a compromise is difficult to achieve. The Italian is 0.230s behind his teammate Adrian Sutil, which is a lot on this circuit with a very short lap time compared to the calendar average.

Heikki Kovalainen, after beating his teammate Lewis Hamilton this morning, is relegated to 17th position, more than 3 tenths behind the Englishman. He is followed by Kimi Räikkönen, Jaime Alguersuari, and Giancarlo Fisichella, who closes the gap at almost 1 second from the best time. Notably, both Ferraris lose 7 tenths just in the second sector.

Results of Free Practice 2 – Brazilian GP – Friday, October 16, 2009: