Free Practice 2: Vettel Shakes Things Up Ahead of Alonso and Kovalainen

It is ultimately Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull who secures the best time in the second practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix. This session took place in true nighttime conditions. The German outpaces Fernando Alonso, who is undeterred by the upheavals in his team, followed by Heikki Kovalainen for McLaren, always at the front.

As in the first session, a red flag appeared during the one and a half hours of testing. This time, it was Mark Webber in the Red Bull who caused it. The Australian hit the wall at turn 23. The impact was more violent than Romain Grosjean’s and the interruption lasted only about ten minutes. The car is destroyed but the driver emerged unscathed.

The German, who has always stayed quite close to first place, beats Fernando Alonso by 0.274s. The double world champion brings some smiles back to the Renault team as his result is more than encouraging. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW) are third and fourth ahead of championship leader Jenson Button.

Mark Webber was the fastest of the Red Bull drivers in the early laps, but the trend quickly changed as he withdrew from the second half of the session following his accident. The Red Bull hit the wall head-on, causing significant damage, leading to a nine-minute interruption and, more importantly, ending Webber’s testing day.

Nick Heidfeld took the lead once the race resumed after the red flag, and the BMW driver remained on top until everyone switched to super-soft tires in the final minutes. It then became a succession of leaders with first Kovalainen, then Vettel, then Button, and finally Lewis Hamilton. However, both British drivers were hindered by traffic on their best laps. The reigning world champion ultimately finished the session in 9th position.

Alonso had the same problem and lost a lot of time behind Jarno Trulli’s Toyota on the penultimate lap of the day, but the Spaniard made up for it on his last lap. The Italian is only 13th this evening. Webber surprisingly remained sixth despite his accident, ahead of Nico Rosberg’s Williams and Timo Glock’s second Toyota.

Robert Kubica (BMW) is 10th while Rubens Barrichello is only 11th driving the second Brawn. Giancarlo Fisichella had a quiet day during his tests on the F60 but finished only 16th tonight. However, he is quite close to his teammate Kimi Räikkönen, who is just 0.3s off in 14th position. Between the two of them is Kazuki Nakajima. Adrian Sutil in the Force India is again 12th.

Romain Grosjean missed the start of the session due to repairs from his accident in the first practice and only finished in 19th place. Both Toro Rosso drivers and Vitantonio Liuzzi remain among the last.

Free Practice 2 Results – Singapore GP – Friday, September 25, 2009: