In practice, Alonso could only finish 10th quickest, 1,235secs down on
Vettel’s pace as the German was the only driver to dip below the one minute
34secs mark.
Behind Webber was Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, a quarter of a second back, with
Kimi Raikkonen fourth in his Lotus, albeit with his session cut short by 35
minutes as he spun into a gravel trap.
The Finn was followed by team-mate Romain Grosjean, with Hamilton only sixth
and with a time three tenths of a second slower than his best in first
practice.
Daniel Ricciardo appears solid in his Toro Rosso, the Australian seventh
fastest ahead of Felipe Massa in his Ferrari, McLaren’s Jenson Button and
then Alonso who suffered a high-speed spin on the approach to the second
Degner turn, although he managed to recover.
Force India’s Paul Di Resta, one of many who suffered a minor spin, was 14th,
just 0.066secs ahead of team-mate Adrian Sutil.
For a driver whose F1 future is in doubt, McLaren’s Sergio Perez did himself
no favours with a sizeable shunt on entry to one of Suzuka’s renowned turns,
the Spoon Curve.
Clipping the astroturf to his right on the outside apex of the long
left-hander, and in hitting the brakes, Perez skewed sideways before
slamming the right-hand side of his car into a barrier.
That incident came moments after Williams’ Pastor Maldonado suffered his
second shunt of the day, on this occasion losing his car on entry to the
second Degner where he buried the nose in a tyre wall.
That made Maldonado the third driver to crash at the same corner as Marussia’s
Jules Bianchi and Giedo van der Garde did so in FP1.
For Bianchi, his car was damaged to such an extent, the team were unable to
carry out the necessary repairs in time for FP2, instead concentrating on
building up the spare chassis in time for final practice tomorrow.
As for Maldonado in first practice, the left-rear wheel of his car became
inexplicably detached.
Approaching Spoon, Maldonado ran wide, but as he attempted to make his way
back on track, the Venezuelan was forced into a spin as the wheel worked
loose, it then bouncing into a gravel trap where it was recovered by
marshals.
Second practice times:
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 33.852secs
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:34.020
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:34.114
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus 1:34.202
5 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus 1:34.411
6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 1:34.442
7 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso 1:34.473
8 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:34.698
9 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:34.912
10 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:35.087
11 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber 1:35.089
12 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 1:35.109
13 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber 1:35.182
14 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:35.275
15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:35.341
16 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:35.709
17 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:36.136
18 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:36.722
19 Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:37.630
20 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:37.905
21 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:38.121
22 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia no time