Japanese GP: Vettel tops Practice 2 as well

Vettel with his new white helmet

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber maintained Red Bull's one-two domination in the second Friday practice session at Suzuka for Sunday's Japanese GP F1 race.

Vettel topped Webber's 1m31.860s time on soft tires with a 1m31.465s also on soft tires.

Lewis Hamilton's crash in the first session meant his damaged McLaren was not ready to take to the track until there were just eight minutes left. The Briton was only 13th, two seconds slower than Vettel.

After its unimpressive morning, Fernando Alonso led the way for Ferrari but ended up fourth, 0.8 seconds off the pace, and just ahead of his teammate Felipe Massa.

"I am sure there is speed to come for tomorrow," said Alonso. "Always on Saturday you put everything on the car – the best pieces and the best set-up etc. but I guess for them there is more to come as well.

"On Saturday you put the race package, so no surprises today – we knew Red Bull were quick here, maybe this is the best circuit of the four for them, so we need to push them as I said yesterday. We need to try to make them push as well and not to have an easy weekend."

Results

Pos Driver Team Time Behind Laps
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:31.465 +0.000s 31
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:31.860 +0.395s 29
3. Kubica Renault 1:32.200 +0.735s 32
4. Alonso Ferrari 1:32.362 +0.897s 34
5. Massa Ferrari 1:32.519 +1.054s 35
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.533 +1.068s 28
7. Petrov Renault 1:32.703 +1.238s 32
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1:32.831 +1.366s 27
9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:32.842 +1.377s 26
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:32.851 +1.386s 26
11. Rosberg Mercedes 1:32.880 +1.415s 26
12. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.471 +2.006s 31
13. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.481 +2.016s 8
14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:33.564 +2.099s 16
15. Heidfeld Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.697 +2.232s 33
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.005 +2.540s 32
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.055 +2.590s 37
18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:34.310 +2.845s 33
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:36.095 +4.630s 37
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:36.333 +4.868s 33
21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:36.630 +5.165s 28
22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:36.834 +5.369s 28
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:37.352 +5.887s 33
24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:37.831 +6.366s 34