Formula One: Second Qualifying Session at Silverstone
Finally Mark Webber is back in action. The Red Bull, that had been able to stand at the top of the Constructors’ Championship earlier this year, seem to be coming back to their previous form. Friday’s first practice session was taken by Sebastian Vettel and the second one was marked by the other Red Bull man Mark Webber. The second free practice continued for an hour and a half which saw new faces at new places.
The Red Bull’s celebrated as they were able to occupy first and third places whereas Ferrari bounced into second and fourth places for the afternoon and Mercedes stood at fifth and sixth places.
The track temperature rose dramatically to 43 degrees Celsius, which was very high as compared to the 28 degrees Celsius in the morning session. However, the Red Bulls were able to leave behind all the others as they kept moving faster and faster. Eventually, Webber was able to cut down to 1m 31.234s, thus, setting his mark of the fastest lap. At the third place stood Sebastian Vettel, breathless and exhausted after pushing hard but still he lapped 0.641s slower than his teammate. In between the two came Fernando Alonso, who took the 1m 31.626s in his Ferrari, being 0.392s apart from Webber.
The other Ferrari man, Felipe Massa, who was not able to do well in the morning session, finished at fourth place this time with 1m 32.099s. The Brazilian was followed by Nico Rosberg of Mercedes GP with 1m 32.166s while his teammate, Michael Schumacher was separated from him by only half a second with 1m 32.660s. This had been a comparatively better end for Schumacher who has not been able perform throughout the season. He ended the morning session in tenth place.
Petrov had a good session, as the Russian was able to end ahead of many racers who are in great form this season, like Massa and Hamilton. He stood seventh with 1m 32.745s where as Hamilton ended at eighth place with 1m 32.757s, in his upgraded McLaren chassis. Next stood Force India’s Adrian Sutil with 1m 33s followed by Williams' Rubens Barrichello with 1m 32.967s.
The eleventh place of the session was taken by Robert Kubica in his Renault with 1m 33.019s. Williams' Nico Hulkenberg finished close behind him with 1m 33.164s. The other McLaren’s driver who has been able to bag two victories this season, Jenson Button, ended his fastest with 1m 33.200s followed by the BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi who made it in 1m 33.402s. The Italian racer for Force India, Vitantonio Liuzzi was able to end in 1m 33.728s whereas Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi caught his tail with 1m 33.836s.
The seventeenth place was attained by Pedro de la Rosa, who failed to break the barrier in his BMW Sauber thus ending the day in 1m 34.051s one place ahead of Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari on 1m 34.643s. Next stood Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen with 1m 35.465s, Lucas Di Grassi racing for Virgin and his team mate Timo Glock on 1m 36.237s and 1m 36.553s respectively. Karun Chandhok and Sakon Yamamoto of HRT finished with 1m 37.019s and 1m 38.303s followed by the last man Jarno Trulli of Lotus who ended in 1m 42.901s.
Both the Lotus drivers faced mechanical problems, whereas no major incidents were faced in the session. Like the morning session, the Red Bull seemed promising once again but this time it was Ferrari instead of McLaren who seemed to be tough competitors. Well, one more day to go and Formula One fans will witness one of the most anticipated races of the season, the British Grand Prix.
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