2013 JAPANESE GP: NOTHING NEW, SEB RECORDED FASTEST TIME ON FRIDAY PRACTICES

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time at the Japanese Grand Prix during second free practice session today. The 26-year-old set his fastest time halfway through the afternoon session, with his team-mate Mark Webber going second-quickest. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton went fastest this morning, on free practice one. Both sessions were held in warm and dry weather with ambient temperatures topping 30 degrees Celsius.

On FP2 we saw many incident caused by leading drivers. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso both had moments at the Degners, the latter doing well to save a spin without damage, while Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado all suffered early exits after accidents. Perez's off was the most dramatic, the Mexican clipped the Astroturf on the entry to Spoon with his McLaren's rear right and was pitched sideways into a heavy collision with the barriers.

FIRST FREE PRACTICE

 P.    Driver               Team           Time       Gap   Laps
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes AMG    1:34.157           19
 2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes AMG    1:34.487  + 0.330  19
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull        1:34.768  + 0.611  24
 4. Mark Webber           Red Bull        1:34.787  + 0.630  20
 5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari         1:35.126  + 0.969  14
 6. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari         1:35.154  + 0.997  16
 7. Romain Grosjean       Lotus           1:35.179  + 1.022  15
 8. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus           1:35.364  + 1.207  17
 9. Sergio Perez          McLaren         1:35.450  + 1.293  27
10. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1:35.635  + 1.478  19
11. Jenson Button         McLaren         1:35.868  + 1.711  22
12. Nico Hülkenberg       Sauber          1:35.900  + 1.743  18
13. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso      1:36.066  + 1.909  20
14. Adrian Sutil          Force India     1:36.165  + 2.008  19
15. Pastor Maldonado      Williams        1:36.178  + 2.021  12
16. Valtteri Bottas       Williams        1:36.340  + 2.183  23
17. Paul Di Resta         Force India     1:36.399  + 2.242  18
18. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber          1:36.760  + 2.603  22
19. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham        1:37.595  + 3.438  22
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia        1:37.629  + 3.472   8
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham        1:38.025  + 3.868  15
22. Max Chilton           Marussia        1:38.763  + 4.606  18

SECOND FREE PRACTICE

 P.     Driver             Team            Time       Gap   Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull        1:33.852           35
 2.  Mark Webber          Red Bull        1:34.020  + 0.168  35
 3.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes AMG    1:34.114  + 0.262  36
 4.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus           1:34.202  + 0.350  17
 5.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus           1:34.411  + 0.559  30
 6.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes AMG    1:34.442  + 0.590  36
 7.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso      1:34.473  + 0.621  30
 8.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari         1:34.698  + 0.846  35
 9.  Jenson Button        McLaren         1:34.912  + 1.060  34
10.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari         1:35.087  + 1.235  32
11.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber          1:35.089  + 1.237  36
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso      1:35.109  + 1.257  34
13.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber          1:35.182  + 1.330  34
14.  Paul di Resta        Force India     1:35.275  + 1.423  35
15.  Adrian Sutil         Force India     1:35.341  + 1.489  25
16.  Sergio Perez         McLaren         1:35.709  + 1.857   8
17.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams        1:36.136  + 2.284  41
18.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams        1:36.722  + 2.870   6
19.  Charles Pic          Caterham        1:37.630  + 3.778  31
20.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham        1:37.905  + 4.053  36
21.  Max Chilton          Marussia        1:38.121  + 4.269  33