2011 German Grand Prix (Rd 10, Free Practice 2, July 22nd, TV Notes)

Nürburgring. © Creative Commons / Will Pittenger

Second practice for the German Grand Prix saw a return to “business as usual” for Red Bull at the Nurburgring.

With hot-blowing off-throttle exhausts reinstated from this weekend, Mark Webber placed his RB7 at the top of Friday afternoon practice with a best of 1:31.711.
Webber jumped to head of the board with one hour remaining, later extending the gap to Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

As the session ran on, the Australian displayed powerful long running pace too – a fact that may worry his fellow competitors.
Alonso – victor two weeks ago in Silverstone – appeared to be keeping pressure on the Red Bull man. His best came within two-tenths of Webber, while also maintaining a similar gap over reigning champion Sebastian Vettel.
Felipe Massa, in the second Ferrari, took another 4th place, some seven-tenths down on Webber.

The Mercedes pair ran high in the order as they continue to evaluate recent aero upgrades. Veteran pilot Michael Schumacher claimed 5th, despite nearly having a crash with Alonso in the turn seven hairpin.
Nico Rosberg also had an off – albeit a high speed one – on the exit of turn eight, although Rosberg recovered to set the 6th quickest lap.
Rosberg also suffered a loss of telemetry during the session, although this was cured later on.

McLaren continued to test new floors and exhausts during the afternoon, with Lewis Hamilton completing 28 laps in the ninety minute session. The 2008 World Champion assumed 7th place – just over five-tenths quicker than Jenson Button whose session was shortened by a broken exhaust.
Just behind Hamilton were the two Renault’s led by Nick Heidfeld. Both missed large chunks of second practice due to car failures – Heidfeld was sidelined with rollbar issues, while Petrov needed a replacement radiator.
Adrian Sutil rounded out the top ten in his Force India in his 34 lap session.

Two drivers that didn’t get much running were Daniel Ricciardo (HRT F1) and Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso).
Ricciardo was only his fifth lap when his Cosworth engine expired in the early minutes of the practice, while Buemi never even registered a time. The Swiss pilot completed three installation laps, before a misfiring engine ended his day prematurely.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
 1.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m31.711s   	      34
 2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m31.879s  + 0.168  38
 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m32.084s  + 0.373  28
 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m32.354s  + 0.643  36
 5.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m32.411s  + 0.700  31
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m32.557s  + 0.846  32
 7.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.724s  + 1.013  28
 8.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault                1m33.098s  + 1.387  17
 9.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                1m33.138s  + 1.427  22
10.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m33.211s  + 1.500  34
11.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m33.225s  + 1.514  17
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m33.299s  + 1.588  34
13.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m34.113s  + 2.402  34
14.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1m34.344s  + 2.633  34
15.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m34.487s  + 2.776  37
16.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m34.491s  + 2.780  35
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1m34.996s  + 3.285  35
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault          1m35.753s  + 4.042  42
19.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth        1m36.940s  + 5.229  32
20.  Karun Chandhok        Lotus-Renault          1m37.248s  + 5.537  33
21.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1m37.313s  + 5.602  33
22.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth           1m38.145s  + 6.434  31
23.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth           1m40.737s  + 9.026   5
24.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari     No time              3

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