Sebastian Vettel led the times at the second practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
The reigning champion set a best lap of 1:24.010 in the second half of the session, while showing some tame pace during the later long runs.
Vettel pipped McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by a mere 0.036 of-a-second as qualifying simulations came to a close; however Hamilton was hit by clutch problems late in the running.
Michael Schumacher was again the faster of the two Mercedes pilots, helped somewhat by KERS problems for teammate Nico Rosberg. Rosberg eventually managed twenty-nine laps, although spent his session managing high fuel runs, leaving him 22nd.
Unlike the morning practice, Felipe Massa proved to be the quicker of the Ferrari’s, although he and Fernando Alonso remained close to half-a-second shy of the leading pace.
It wasn’t a stellar session for the Ferrari-powered cars. Both Toro Rosso’s had offs, with Jaime Alguersuari being forced onto the grass at speed by one of the Force India’s.
That paled into comparison with Sebastien Buemi’s adventures – the Swiss pilot ran wide at the Parabolica, resulting in the STR06 hitting the curving barrier hard.
At Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi’s session finished early thanks to a transmission failure, but not before he secured the 9th best time of the session, only one-tenth and one place shy of teammate Sergio Perez.
Balance problems hindered running for the Williams squad with Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado only achieving a best of 15th and 16th respectively.
At HRT F1, Daniel Ricciardo’s day took a turn for the worse – his Cosworth-driven machine completed only seven laps, due to an electrical fault.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m24.010s 37 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.046s + 0.036 21 3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m24.347s + 0.337 39 4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m24.366s + 0.356 33 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.433s + 0.423 31 6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.468s + 0.458 32 7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.508s + 0.498 30 8. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.097s + 1.087 39 9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.182s + 1.172 37 10. Bruno Senna Renault 1m25.325s + 1.315 38 11. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m25.450s + 1.440 31 12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m25.496s + 1.486 39 13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m25.683s + 1.673 37 14. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.758s + 1.748 29 15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m26.202s + 2.192 36 16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m26.353s + 2.343 40 17. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m28.347s + 4.337 5 18. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m28.559s + 4.549 32 19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m28.605s + 4.595 32 20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m28.804s + 4.794 25 21. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m29.162s + 5.152 34 22. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m29.184s + 5.174 29 23. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m29.622s + 5.612 34 24. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m29.841s + 5.831 7
