Practice 2: Webber fastest in brief dry spell
26 August, 2011
Mark Webber ended day one at Spa quickest of all
Aug.26 (Reuters & PVM) Mark Webber took advantage of a one hour dry spell in the second free practice session of the Belgium Grand Prix weekend, to claim top spot on the timing sheets at the end of a frustrating and wet day at Spa-Francorchamps.
Webber set the time during a flurry of laps in the Red Bull RB7 just before the rain came down to spoil the dry early running. Also enjoying spells at the top of the timing screens were his team mate Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Webber, who was on pole at Spa last year and celebrates his 35th birthday on Saturday, set the best time of 1 minute 50.321 seconds was a second an a bit shy of last year’s best time also on a rain affected opening day in the Ardennes. Only 0.140seconds off the top time was Alonso.
Oozing confidence and keeping their running to a minimum were both McLaren drivers with, Hungarian GP winner, Jenson Button and, last years winner at Spa, Lewis Hamilton ending the session third and fourth best respectively – well within sight of Webber’s best.
But an hour into the session the clouds burst and the rain came down, as it did in the morning session, to curtail any further serious running, resulting in reigning champion and runaway leader Vettel ending the session down in 10th place.
Both first practice barrier victims Bruno Senna and Paul di Resta made it back out in repaired cars, the Renault driver ending the session 17th and the Force India pilot ninth on the timing screens.
Saturday, 26 August – Practice 2
| Pos | No |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
Gap |
Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:50.321 | 22 | |
| 2 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:50.461 | 0.140 | 19 |
| 3 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:50.770 | 0.449 | 9 |
| 4 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:50.838 | 0.517 | 9 |
| 5 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:51.218 | 0.897 | 15 |
| 6 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:51.242 | 0.921 | 23 |
| 7 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:51.655 | 1.334 | 21 |
| 8 | 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:51.725 | 1.404 | 18 |
| 9 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:51.751 | 1.430 | 9 |
| 10 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:51.790 | 1.469 | 13 |
| 11 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:51.922 | 1.601 | 23 |
| 12 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:52.750 | 2.429 | 20 |
| 13 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:52.780 | 2.459 | 26 |
| 14 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:52.911 | 2.590 | 25 |
| 15 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:53.009 | 2.688 | 25 |
| 16 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:53.156 | 2.835 | 17 |
| 17 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:53.835 | 3.514 | 21 |
| 18 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:55.051 | 4.730 | 20 |
| 19 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:55.494 | 5.173 | 23 |
| 20 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:56.202 | 5.881 | 15 |
| 21 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:56.816 | 6.495 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1:57.450 | 7.129 | 19 |
| 23 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1:57.612 | 7.291 | 24 |
| 24 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 2:02.234 | 11.913 | 12 |
Related posts:
- Practice 1: Rain spoils play as rookies crash
- Practice 3: Vettel fastest from Alonso
- Practice 1: Hamilton fastest as Webber shunts
- Practice 2: Webber fastest from Alonso
- Practice 3: Webber fastest ahead of qualy
