Vettel ultimately clocked a lap of one minute 44.249secs, finishing six tenths
of a second clear of Webber, with Rosberg exactly a second off the pace.
On the back of successive wins in Belgium and Italy, and after taking the
chequered flag at this venue for the last two years, there is no denying
Vettel will again be the man to beat on Sunday.
As for Hamilton, he desperately needs a victory if he is to have any hope of
clawing back Vettel’s current 81-point advantage, with 175 up for grabs from
the final seven races.
As for fellow title long-shots in Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen
in his Lotus – 53 and 88 points down on Vettel respectively – they were
sixth and eighth in the standings.
Alonso was almost 1.5secs back, with Jenson Button in his McLaren and
Raikkonen in close attendance, with the latter’s team-mate in Romain
Grosjean outshining the Finn as he was fifth fastest, 1.162secs down.
Force India’s Adrian Sutil and McLaren’s Sergio Perez, the latter a man under
pressure given his team’s interest in Alonso, were ninth and 10th on the
timesheet, both around 1.7secs back.
Paul Di Resta was 13th in his Force India, 2.357secs off the pace and 0.6secs
behind Sutil, with Felipe Massa in his Ferrari a miserable 15th, a
staggering 1.2secs behind Alonso.
At the rear of the field came Marussia pairing Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi,
with the former 5.370secs adrift of Vettel.
Second practice times:
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1hr 44.249mins
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:44.853
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:45.258
4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 1:45.368
5 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus 1:45.411
6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:45.691
7 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:45.754
8 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus 1:45.778
9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:46.002
10 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:46.025
11 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso 1:46.406
12 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 1:46.429
13 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:46.606
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber 1:46.808
15 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:46.870
16 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber 1:47.287
17 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:47.434
18 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:47.761
19 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:49.434
20 Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:49.526
21 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:49.619
22 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:49.731