2011 Turkish Grand Prix (Rd 4, Free Practice 2, May 6th)

© Creative Commons / Will Pittenger

Jenson Button topped a drying second free practice at Istanbul yesterday afternoon.

The 2009 World Champion set a best of 1:26.456 in the midst of a 26 lap stint, leaving him just six-hundredths quicker than the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.

A McLaren / Mercedes pairing took over 3rd and 4th places as well, with Lewis Hamilton just pipping Michael Schumacher, albeit both fell over half-a-second shy of Button.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber registered 5th, following a 31 lap session. His teammate, Sebastian Vettel did not set a lap following his morning practice crash.

Felipe Massa had a positive afternoon in his Ferrari, taking 6th place ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and the Force India of Adrian Sutil. All three ran 37 valuable laps, having largely stayed out of trouble during the morning wash-out.
Massa’s Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso had a less than successful stint. Persistent hydraulic problems and a spin left the Spaniard 11th on the timing sheets, some 1.6 seconds down on Button.

Williams had a tough afternoon with Pastor Maldonado suffering two spins – the second of which sent the Venezuelan into the barrier – while Barrichello’s session was rudely interrupted with a KERS problem.
It would leave the blue-and-white pair 15th and 16th, just ahead of the busiest man of second practice, Jarno Trulli. The Lotus displayed gains in practice, as they continue to close in on the midfield – Trulli also beat Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi in the standings by two-tenths.

Jerome d’Ambrosio ended the session 20th and ahead of Timo Glock; however the Virgin driver will have to accept a five-place grid penalty, thanks to setting his best lap under yellows flags, while marshals recovered Maldonado’s car.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m26.456s            26
 2.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m26.521s  +	0.065	29
 3.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes        1m27.033s  +	0.577	31
 4.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes                1m27.063s  +	0.607	21
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m27.149s  +	0.693	31
 6.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m27.340s  +	0.884	37
 7.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                 1m27.517s  +	1.061	37
 8.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m27.725s  +	1.269	37
 9.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari          1m27.844s  +	1.388	32
10.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1m28.052s  +	1.596	37
11.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m28.069s  +	1.613	27
12.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m28.153s  +	1.697	36
13.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault                 1m28.475s  +	2.019	35
14.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m28.765s  +	2.309	32
15.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth       1m28.828s  +	2.372	19
16.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1m28.946s  +	2.490	20
17.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault           1m29.409s  +	2.953	39
18.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari          1m29.637s  +	3.181	27
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault           1m30.281s  +	3.825	37
20.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth         1m31.035s  +	4.579	28
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth         1m31.221s  +	4.765	22
22.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth            1m31.320s  +	4.864	29
23.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth            1m31.989s  +	5.533	30

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