Sebastian Vettel has emerged as the early favourite for this weekends’ Singapore Grand Prix, topping both practice sessions.
The first session began on a damp track, but quickly dried out, and the drivers soon took on slick tyres. Here is today’s report:
First practice
Water off the racing line, as well as leaves scattered across the track, signalled a difficult start to FP1 for the drivers. Intermediate tyres were the way to go in the opening few minutes.
However, once Kamui Kobayashi blitzed the timesheets on slicks, others scrambled to put on the dry compound.
The times tumbled throughout the session, with Vettel eventually winning out, by 0.049 seconds to Lewis Hamilton. Jenson Button was over 8 tenths off his teammate.
Pastor Maldonado took to the run-off area several times, but still impressed with 5th. Ma Qing Hua made another appearance in the HRT, finishing 1.4 seconds off Pedro de la Rosa.
Times from FP1:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:50.566 24
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:50.615 +0.049 15
3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:51.459 +0.893 17
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:51.525 +0.959 20
5. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:51.576 +1.010 20
6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:51.655 +1.089 19
7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:51.658 +1.092 24
8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:51.943 +1.377 21
9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:52.275 +1.709 24
10. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:52.296 +1.730 19
11. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:52.629 +2.063 25
12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1:52.716 +2.150 16
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:52.839 +2.273 23
14. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:53.028 +2.462 20
16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:53.080 +2.514 17
17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:53.189 +2.623 25
18. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:53.227 +2.661 25
19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:54.908 +4.342 20
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:55.091 +4.525 16
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:55.335 +4.769 22
22. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:55.760 +5.194 22
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:56.656 +6.090 21
24. Ma Qing Hua HRT-Cosworth 1:58.053 +7.487 20
Second practice
Bruno Senna disrupted many teams’ plans, after crashing out at turn 19. He clipped the barrier exiting the corner, skidded and damaged his suspension, and stalled on the racing line at turn 20. The red flag was deployed for several minutes, and Senna took no further part in proceedings.
Kimi Raikkonen – who was unhappy with his car’s pace all day – was forced to abandon his high-fuel run, after a hydraulic issue. Like in FP1, he finished 12th.
Further down the grid, Timo Glock produced a stellar lap to finish only 2 tenths off Jean-Eric Vergne.
Again, Vettel was fastest on the super-soft tyres, this time by 0.3 seconds to Button.
Times from FP2:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:48.340 27
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.651 +0.311 24
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:48.896 +0.556 26
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:48.964 +0.624 26
5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:49.086 +0.746 28
6. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:49.300 +0.960 30
7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:49.339 +0.999 31
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:49.790 +1.450 32
9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:50.039 +1.699 28
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:50.161 +1.821 23
11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:50.263 +1.923 23
12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1:50.345 +2.005 24
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:50.636 +2.296 32
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:50.791 +2.451 26
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:51.122 +2.782 28
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:51.450 +3.110 21
17. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:51.452 +3.112 11
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:52.004 +3.669 31
19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:52.218 +3.878 29
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:52.576 +4.236 27
21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:52.863 +4.523 27
22. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:52.936 +4.596 25
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:54.448 +6.108 25
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:54.514 +6.174 30
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