However, in the final sector was baulked by Alguersuari in his Toro Rosso and
was forced to abort the lap, so forcing him to settle for second best behind
Vettel.
The reigning champion, who is on course for back-to-back titles as he holds
sway in the standings by 92 points to Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, topped
the standings with a time of 1:24.010, beating Hamilton by 0.036secs.
That, however, was 0.145secs adrift of Hamilton’s hot lap in the morning,
suggesting there is plenty more to come from the leading players in
tomorrow’s qualifying.
Promisingly for Mercedes, seven-times champion Michael Schumacher was third on
the timesheet, just over a third of a second behind Vettel.
Ferrari, who normally like to give their fans something to cheer in Friday
practice, had to settle for fourth and fifth quickest, with Felipe Massa
ahead of Fernando Alonso on this occasion.
Webber and Button were sixth and seventh, just under half a second down, with
everybody else over a second off the pace.
The best of the rest was headed by Sauber duo Sergio Perez and Kamui
Kobayashi, with Renault’s Bruno Senna marginally ahead of his team-mate in
Vitaly Petrov in 10th and 11th.
It was another good session for the Brazilian who is still getting to grips
with the car following his recent elevation into the race seat from reserve
prior to the last race in Belgium.
In 12th and 13th, again team-mates were paired together in the form of Adrian
Sutil and Paul di Resta, the duo around 1.5secs down and split by 0.187secs.
Sebastien Buemi was involved in the only noteworthy incident, the Swiss
hitting a tyre barrier coming out of the right-handed sweep of the
Parabolica, burying his noseless car in a gravel trap.
At the back of the field Hispania Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo managed just seven
laps due to technical issues, the Australian finishing nearly six seconds
down.
Second free practice session times:
1 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull-Renault 1min 24.010s
2 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1:24.046
3 Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 1:24.347
4 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:24.366
5 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1:24.433
6 Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull – Renault 1:24.468
7 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1:24.508
8 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Sauber – Ferrari 1:25.097
9 Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber – Ferrari 1:25.182
10 Bruno Senna (Brazil) Renault 1:25.325
11 Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 1:25.450
12 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Mercedes 1:25.496
13 Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India-Mercedes 1:25.683
14 Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso – Ferrari 1:25.758
15 Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams – Cosworth 1:26.202
16 Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams – Cosworth 1:26.353
17 Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso – Ferrari 1:28.347
18 Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus – Renault 1:28.559
19 Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus – Renault 1:28.605
20 Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin – Cosworth 1:28.804
21 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) HRT – Cosworth 1:29.162
22 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:29.184
23 Jerome d’Ambrosio (Belgium) Virgin – Cosworth 1:29.622
24 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) HRT – Cosworth 1:29.841