Sebastian Vettel fended off a late charge by Fernando Alonso to top the timesheet in the second session of free practice for this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver, who is holding on to a slim hope of winning the championship, recorded the fastest lap late in the session with a time of one minute 48.650 seconds under the lights at the Marina Bay street circuit.
Alonso, who won the inaugural night race in Singapore last year, shot up into second place with his final lap of 1min 48.924secs - 0.274s slower than Vettel - to give Renault some encouragement as they look to rebuild from the 2008 Singapore race-fixing scandal. The Press Association
McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen was third with BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld fourth.
Button came home fifth while Barrichello, who was fastest in the first practice session, could only manage 11th.
Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber took sixth despite crashing out.
It wasn’t easy driving under lights and, with a massive construction site for a new casino being built nearby, the track was not just bumpy but dusty.
It meant slippery tarmac, with several drivers losing control as they got a feel for the conditions.
Webber was the first to crack the 1:50.000 barrier and Vettel soon joined him as Red Bull once again showed their potential.
But Australia’s Webber was pushing too hard and with 35 minutes of the session gone lost control on the turn coming into the start/finish straight, spinning across the track and smashing into the pit wall.
It was his night over with heavy damage to the front corner of his car and, with debris on the track the red flag came out, delaying the action for 10 minutes.
Soon after they came back out and Heidfeld set the fastest time. AFP
Formula 1: Singapore Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Behind Button and Webber - who took no further part in the session - were Williams driver Nico Rosberg and Toyota’s Timo Glock.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has vowed to go on the attack in the final four races of the season, could only manage ninth fastest while BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica rounded out the top 10.
Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished 14th with team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, preparing for his second race with Ferrari this weekend, was two places below in 16th. SkySports
Renault have a new management structure after the team parted company with boss Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds in the wake of the race-fixing scandal.
Technical director Bob Bell has been promoted to acting team principal and he said it was important to move on from the scandal which had engulfed F1 in recent weeks as they returned to the scene of their wrongdoing.
“It’s going to be an interesting weekend for the team,” he said. “We’re here to do the best job we can as normal, keep our heads down, and put everything that’s happened in the past few weeks behind us.
“We’ve always tried to structure the team so that if people do disappear for whatever reason we can recover.
“Fernando likes this track, he’s confident and I think he can do a good job here.” BBC News
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