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Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber dominated second practice at Suzuka as Red Bull marked themselves out as the team to beat in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Vettel won this race from pole position last year and is on target to repeat that feat again after following up his fastest time in opening practice with the benchmark time of one minute 31.465 seconds in session two.
Championship leader Webber, who enjoys a 21-point cushion over his team-mate in the drivers’ standings, finished 0.395secs down.
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Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in Second Practice at Suzuka
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in First Practice at Suzuka
Formula 1: Japanese Grand Prix - First Practice Results
F1 Standings Ahead of Japanese Grand Prix
The session was a frustrating one for McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to sit out all but the final 10 minutes as his team repaired his damaged car. The Press Association
With half an hour remaining Kubica was third fastest, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa in fourth and fifth.
Required to shoulder the burden of the entire McLaren test programme, Jenson Button was sixth fastest. The teams settled into race runs, with Vettel’s fastest time of 1.31.46 putting him four-tenths of a second clear of Webber, with 1.31.680, and Kubica on 1.32.20.
Only eight minutes remained when Hamilton finally emerged from the the pit-lane, with his McLaren on soft tyres, for a data-accumulating five lap run with a heavy fuel load. His fastest effort left him 13th, over two seconds behind Vettel. But with even Alonso almost a second off the pace, McLaren may not be the only team pinning their hopes on the weather giving them a gambler’s chance in qualifying.
However Vettel warned Red Bull would be equally hard to beat on a wet track. “The car was reliable and I had a good feeling, the pace looks okay too,” he said.
“The forecast suggests rain, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be competitive in the wet. The conditions have been quite inconsistent during all the wet races that we’ve had so far this year, so it’s hard to know what everyone’s pace will be.” BBC Sport
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired 1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:31.5 2 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:31.9 3 11 Robert Kubica Renault 01:32.2 4 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:32.4 5 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:32.5 6 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:32.5 7 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:32.7 8 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 01:32.8 9 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:32.8 10 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 01:32.9 11 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 01:32.9 12 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:33.5 13 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:33.5 14 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:33.6 15 22 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:33.7 16 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:34.0 17 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:34.1 18 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 01:34.3 19 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 01:36.1 20 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:36.3 21 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 01:36.6 22 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:36.8 23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 01:37.4 24 20 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 01:37.8
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