Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima set the fastest times of the session - and of the day - for Williams in second practice in Barcelona on Friday afternoon. It was a relatively inconclusive end, as some other fancied combinations were clearly not running at their fastest. It was thus difficult to draw any hard and fast inferences from an important day on which everyone tried out their new aerodynamic packages.
Rosberg, who stopped on the circuit right at the end, beat Jenson Button’s morning time of 1m 21.799s in the Brawn with 1m 21.588s. Nakajima’s best was 1m 21.740s. Fernando Alonso also dipped beneath it for 1m 21.781s for Renault. F1.com
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was fourth-fastest for Brawn ahead of Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull and championship leading Briton Jenson Button in the second Brawn car.
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German Sebastian Vettel was seventh in the second Red Bull and Brazilian Nelson Piquet eighth for Renault after an incident-filled session including two runs of through the gravel.
The Ferraris of Finn Kimi Rakikkonen and Brazilian Felipe Massa wound up in 10th and 15th places respectively while defending drivers champion Briton Lewis Hamilton was 13th for McLaren Mercedes, positions that proved the battle for the title and this weekend’s points remains wide open. The Associated Press
Vettel’s time was beaten by Nico Rosberg before a whole host of drivers overtook the two with Robert Kubica taking the P1 slot followed by Nelson Piquet and Mark Webber.
Piquet continued lapping and was the next driver up into the P1 slot before once again being beaten by Kubica. Ferando Alonso took third place. Timo Glock joined the tussle hitting the front before Piquet took it off him.
The arrival of Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello saw another party join the battle as he went quickest with a 1.23.348. Meanwhile Felipe Massa was complaining to Ferrari about his set-up as the Brazilian ran wide at Turn 9. Sky Sports
Williams’ concern this season, though, is they have yet to transfer their practice pace into a decent qualifying performance or race result.
Rosberg has managed just 3.5 points so far, with his best finish a sixth in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, whilst Nakajima has yet to get off the mark. The Press Association
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