Sebastian Vettel has stamped Red Bull Racing’s mark on the Singapore Grand Prix weekend by topping both Friday practice sessions at the Marina Bay street circuit.
The German set the day’s best time of 1:48.34s midway through the second 90 minute outing.
Rain prior to Practice 1 ensured great track evolution across the day, with Vettel’s Practice 1 benchmark a relatively tardy 1:50.57s.
McLaren drivers were second fastest in both sessions, with Lewis Hamilton just 0.05s away from the pace in Practice 1.
Jenson Button proved Vettel’s closest competitor in the later running, albeit a full 0.3s adrift.
The Practice 2 top 10 was rounded out by Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Hamilton, Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean.
Bruno Senna caused the only red flag period of the day when he knocked his Williams against the Turn 19 exit wall in the second session.
Ma Qing Hua was the only reserve driver to take part in Practice 1, where he impressively lapped within 1.5s of his far more experienced HRT team-mate Pedro de la Rosa.
See below for the Practice 2 result
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Time/Retired |
Gap |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:48.340 | |
| 2 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:48.651 | 0.311 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:48.896 | 0.556 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:48.964 | 0.624 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:49.086 | 0.746 |
| 6 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:49.300 | 0.960 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:49.339 | 0.999 |
| 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:49.790 | 1.450 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:50.039 | 1.699 |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:50.161 | 1.821 |
| 11 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:50.263 | 1.923 |
| 12 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:50.345 | 2.005 |
| 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:50.636 | 2.296 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:50.791 | 2.451 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:51.122 | 2.782 |
| 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:51.450 | 3.110 |
| 17 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:51.452 | 3.112 |
| 18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:52.009 | 3.669 |
| 19 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:52.218 | 3.878 |
| 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:52.576 | 4.236 |
| 21 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:52.863 | 4.523 |
| 22 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:52.936 | 4.596 |
| 23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:54.448 | 6.108 |
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:54.514 | 6.174 |
See below for the Practice 1 result
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Time/Retired |
Gap |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:50.566 | |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:50.615 | 0.049 |
| 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:51.459 | 0.893 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:51.525 | 0.959 |
| 5 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1:51.576 | 1.010 |
| 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:51.655 | 1.089 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:51.658 | 1.092 |
| 8 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:51.943 | 1.377 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 1:52.275 | 1.709 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:52.296 | 1.730 |
| 11 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1:52.629 | 2.063 |
| 12 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 1:52.716 | 2.150 |
| 13 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:52.839 | 2.273 |
| 14 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:52.986 | 2.420 |
| 15 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:53.028 | 2.462 |
| 16 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:53.080 | 2.514 |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 1:53.189 | 2.623 |
| 18 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:53.227 | 2.661 |
| 19 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:54.908 | 4.342 |
| 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1:55.091 | 4.525 |
| 21 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1:55.335 | 4.769 |
| 22 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1:55.760 | 5.194 |
| 23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1:56.656 | 6.090 |
| 24 | Qing Hua Ma | HRT-Cosworth | 1:58.053 | 7.487 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Malaysian Grand Prix Race Guide
