Vettel back on top in Italian second practice

Vettel pipped Hamilton to the fastest lap

Sebastian Vettel edged Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time in second practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Brit was leading the session, but was unseated by 0.036 seconds by the Red Bull. Hamilton was set to go faster again, but was held up by Jaime Alguersuari on his final flying lap.

The extremely hot track temperatures – up to 40 degrees on the tarmac – slowed the cars throughout the session, with no car beating Lewis’ fastest lap from FP1.

Sebastien Buemi provided the action in this session, crashing out at Parabolica corner after setting only 5 laps, after clipping the grass under braking.

The Ferraris improved to 4th and 5th, the Saubers 8th and 9th, with both Renaults 10th and 11th.

Nico Rosberg had another abysmal session, finishing 21st, and 5 seconds off the pace. Teammate Michael Schumacher broke into the top 3, finishing 0.3 seconds off Vettel.

Daniel Ricciardo was in last place, emerging from the pits with only a few minutes to go.

Times from FP2:

 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1:24.010           37
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1:24.046   0.036  21
 3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1:24.347   0.337  39
 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1:24.366   0.356  33
 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1:24.433   0.423  31
 6.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1:24.468   0.458  32
 7.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1:24.508   0.498  30
 8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1:25.097   1.087  39
 9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1:25.182   1.172  37
10.  Bruno Senna           Renault               1:25.325   1.315  38
11.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault               1:25.450   1.440  31
12.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1:25.496   1.486  39
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1:25.683   1.673  37
14.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:25.758   1.748  29
15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1:26.202   2.192  36
16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth     1:26.353   2.343  40
17.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:28.347   4.337   5
18.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault         1:28.559   4.549  32
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault         1:28.605   4.595  32
20.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth       1:28.804   4.794  25
21.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth          1:29.162   5.152  34
22.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1:29.184   5.174  29
23.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth       1:29.622   5.612  34
24.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth          1:29.841   5.831   7