Practice Two - Webber fights back for Red Bull 22 Jul 2011
Red Bull’s Mark Webber set the fastest time of the Friday afternoon session at the Nurburgring, beating Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari by 0.168s. The Australian clocked a best lap of 1m 31.711s.
The temperature was the same as in the morning session and it remained low throughout the session, making life difficult for the drivers, as they struggled to get heat in the tyres. There were a number of spins and off track moments, but no serious damage was done, although Daniel Ricciardo’s HRT stopped after just a few minutes with a smoky technical problem.
€nitially Felipe Massa set the pace for Ferrari but with 30 minutes to go Webber moved to the front and was never headed. Alonso tried hard and had several minor offs, but could do no better than a 1m 31.879s. At one point he had to take avoiding action when Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher and he arrived at a corner in close succession.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was right with Alonso with a best lap of 1m 32.084s, which pushed Massa down to fourth, his fastest lap being a 1m 32.354s.
The Mercedes team ended the session in fifth and sixth places with Schumacher ahead of Nico Rosberg, Schumacher's lap of 1m 32.411s, eclipsing his team mate by a tenth of a second. Rosberg’s best was a 1m 32.557s. This pushed Lewis Hamilton down to seventh fastest with a 1m 32.724s lap, while his McLaren team mate Jenson Button suffered from exhaust problems and was only 11th, his best lap being a 1m 33.225s.
Once again the action was very close in the chasing group with the two Renaults of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov eighth and ninth with laps of 1m 33.098s and 1m 33.138s respectively. Adrian Sutil was 10th with a 1m 33.138s, despite a spin, while Button was only 0.074s ahead of Paul di Resta in the second Force €ndia, which was 12th fastest with a time of 1m 33.299s. There was then a bigger gap back to the Sauber of Sergio Perez, who could do no better than 1m 34.113s, but this was still clear of Rubens Barrichello’s Williams, which was 14th with a lap of 1m 34.344s.
Jaime Alguersuari was 15th with a best of 1m 34.487s. His Toro Rosso team mate Sebastien Buemi was in trouble with a misfire, which kept him from setting any lap time. This meant that he was at the bottom of the time sheets.
Kamui Kobayashi ended up 16th in his Sauber, unable to do better than a 1m 34.491s, which was half a second ahead of Pastor Maldonado’s 1m 34.996s for Williams.
Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen continued to show well but had another off-track moment on his way to setting the 18th best time, with a lap of 1m 35.753s, but this was well clear of Timo Glock’s Virgin. The local hero had a spin and could do no better than a 1m 36.940s, but was still clear of the second Lotus, driven by Karun Chandhok, who had a big spin early in the session. He set a 1m 37.248s.
Jerome d’Ambrosio was 21st in his Virgin with a 1m 37.313s, which put him ahead of the HRT of Tonio Liuzzi, who was catching up after missing the morning session. The €talian’s best was a 1m 38.145s. Ricciardo’s technical trouble meant that he was 19th with a time of 1m 40.737s.
Overall, it was a fairly inconclusive day and with little sign of improved weather on Saturday it created more questions than it did answers.
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