GreenBkk.com Formula 1 | Practice Two - Webber edges out Alonso

Practice Two - Webber edges out Alonso

The weather did its best to disrupt things in Friday’s second practice session at Spa-Francorchamps, but not before we got a feel for the status quo as the top four were covered by half a second and the top six by nine-tenths.

Mark Webber set the pace for Red Bull with a lap of 1m 50.321s as conditions improved after a damp start to the 90 minutes, 0.140s ahead of Fernando Alonso who lapped his Ferrari in 1m 50.461s, and the McLarens of Jenson Button (1m 50.770s) and Lewis Hamilton (1m 50.838s). But where Webber did 19 laps and Alonso 16, the McLaren drivers only did nine apiece.

Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari on 1m 51.218s, from Nico Rosberg on 1m 51.242s in the leading Mercedes. Behind them, Sauber’s Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg (standing in for the session for Adrian Sutil at Force India), Paul di Resta in the other Force India and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel were tightly grouped on 1m 51.655s, 1m 51.725s, 1m 51.751s and 1m 51.790s respectively, with Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher close behind on 1m 51.922s.

Pastor Maldonado put his Williams 12th with 1m 52.750s, just ahead of Kamui Kobayashi’s 1m 52.780s in the second Sauber, while Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi were their usual inseparable selves with 1m 52.911s and 1m 53.009s in their Toro Rossos.

Rubens Barrichello was 16th for Williams on 1m 53.156s, with Bruno Senna heading Renault’s challenge (and, momentarily at one point, the timesheets), with 1m 53.835s.

There was the usual gap then back to the newer teams, with Jarno Trulli on 1m 55.051s for Lotus ahead of Virgin’s Timo Glock on 1m 55.494s, Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen on 1m 56.202s and Virgin’s local hero Jerome d’Ambrosio on 1m 56.816s.

At the back, Tonio Liuzzi lapped his HRT in 1m 57.450s, with team mate Daniel Ricciardo on 1m 57.612s and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov on 2m 02.234s.

When the rain came with 36 minutes of practice remaining, the session was effectively over.

Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)