Melbourne Practice 2: Vettel and Red Bull own day one
15 March, 2013
Sebastian Vettel on top in Melbourne
The early signs are ominous for the pretenders to the Formula 1 throne as world champions Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel effortlessly dominated day one of 2013 world championship season opener in Melbourne, ahead of Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.
Vettel topped the timing screens at the end of both sessions at Albert Park, and with local hero Mark Webber second fastest in FP2 it is quite clear that the champions have hit the ground running in the defence of their title.
Vettel’s best lap time of 1:25.908 compares to Jenson Button’s best time last year of 1:27.560 at the end of day one in Melbourne – the class of 2013 have found 1.5 seconds during the course of twelve months.
Behind the purplish cars the battle for the best of the rest, on the day, was between Lotus, Mercedes and Ferrari.
For Mercedes, it was a torrid final dozen minutes as first Lewis Hamilton went straight in Turn 6 and ended up with the front of the W03 nudging the tyre wall, his session ending there and then. At the time he was attacking and looking good for a top time.
Local hero Mark Webber ended FP2 second quickest
Minutes later Rosberg parked his car with what appeared to be a gearbox problem, nevertheless the German was third quickest when the chequered flag dropped. Hamilton was seventh.
The Lotus pair showed strongly with Kimi Raikkonen a tad faster than Romain Grosjean as they ended the day fourth and fifth respectively.
Ferrari are looking a lot stronger this time around than they did 12 months ago. Fernando Alonso ending sixth fastest and Felipe Massa eighth – the pair split on the timing screens by Hamilton.
Adrian Sutil will be pleased with a faultless return to Force India, after a year on the sidelines, ending the session ninth best and again (as he did in the morning) getting the better of teammate Paul di Resta who was 12th.
Nico Rosberg third quickest
Rounding out the top ten was Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber. Rookie teammate Esteban Gutierrez was 15th, good enough to be fastest of the rookies.
McLaren were alarmingly down the order with Jenson Button, who complained about lack of grip during a chat to his crew over the radio, was 11th and the team’s new driver Sergio Perez 13th. Clearly the two have yet to find the MP4-28′s sweet spot.
Williams were also relatively subdued as their package is expected to be the best of the midfield pack, this was not in evidence on day one around the street circuit. Pastor Maldonado was 16th and Valtteri Bottas 18th.
Kimi Raikkonen fourth quickest
At the rear end of proceedings Jules Bianchi again was a second faster than his fellow rookie and Marussia teammate Max Chilton.
Giedo van der Garde was an early casualty, when he beached his Catreham in Turn 3 with a mere 11 laps on his chart. He ended the day slowest of all.
Free Practice 2 Results, Melbourne – Friday, 15 March 2013
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time/Retired | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:25.908 | 33 | |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:26.172 | 0.264 | 31 |
| 3 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.322 | 0.414 | 26 |
| 4 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:26.361 | 0.453 | 38 |
| 5 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:26.680 | 0.772 | 32 |
| 6 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:26.748 | 0.840 | 35 |
| 7 | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:26.772 | 0.864 | 28 |
| 8 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:26.855 | 0.947 | 32 |
| 9 | 15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:27.435 | 1.527 | 35 |
| 10 | 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:28.187 | 2.279 | 34 |
| 11 | 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:28.294 | 2.386 | 30 |
| 12 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:28.311 | 2.403 | 37 |
| 13 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:28.566 | 2.658 | 33 |
| 14 | 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:28.627 | 2.719 | 31 |
| 15 | 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:28.772 | 2.864 | 33 |
| 16 | 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:28.852 | 2.944 | 36 |
| 17 | 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:28.968 | 3.060 | 36 |
| 18 | 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1:29.386 | 3.478 | 39 |
| 19 | 22 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:29.696 | 3.788 | 32 |
| 20 | 20 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1:30.165 | 4.257 | 37 |
| 21 | 23 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:30.600 | 4.692 | 36 |
| 22 | 21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1:32.450 | 6.542 | 11 |
Related posts:
- Melbourne Practice 1: Vettel sets early pace as Ferrari duo lead the chase
- Yeongam Practice 2: Vettel tops as Red Bull takes control
- Melbourne Practice 3: Hamilton tops as Vettel and Schumi beach it
- Melbourne Practice 2: Schumacher fastest in topsy turvy session
- Melbourne Practice 1: Button quickest from Hamilton
There have been quite a few issues with the Ferrari this yesterday. Felipe’s KERS failed, there was a problem with Fernando’s engine.
I hope they still have that excellent reliability from last year.
Ferrari can get the job done this year, no doubt about that. The car lacks downforce, but the balance is ok, tire management ok, and it responds well to setup changes.
Plus, no correlation issues.
@alonso_is_slow:
Man, it would have been a bad year for you had Alonso’s Ferrari topped the time sheets.
Did you have a good winter period? Are you ready to be called retard by everyone on every single post?
You retard.
oops that was pf1 still exciting.
Low and behold, Massa 78 thousandths off with Alonso 3 tenths. This is going to be a fun season.
Alonso looking good. Close battle up front. Alonso will be fine. Only practice.
@ alonso is slow
hater still around? only during season though. smh
Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus are quite strong enough this season. I am sure its a fantastic season.
Goodbye Alonso hopes. He had a chance last year as red bull were slow, but this season is hopeless. Red Bull fast and Vettel even faster.
Add to edit:
Did L. Hamilton get out of Mclaren at just the right time? Those P1 and P2 times are horrid. Lots to make up in one day.
We’ve all seen this movie before – You just knew these guys were sandbagging it something silly during winter testing.
Might as well hand over the trophies now.