Greater Noida: Two times defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull set the tone ahead of Saturday’s qualifying by setting the fastest timing in both the practice sessions of the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit.
Vettel who set a timing of 1:27.619 in the first practice session clocked 1:26:221 in the second session to top the day. He was followed by his teammate Mark Webber with a timing of 1:26:339 while Vettel’s chief rival Fernando Alonso for the championship clocked 1:26:820 to register the third best timing of the day.
The intensity and the events that happened in the second session of practice promises nothing less than an intriguing battle for tomorrow’s qualifying. The session saw the best lap changing many times before Vettel and it also saw four drivers: Felipe Massa, Bruno Senna, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen lose control of their car at different sectors on the track.
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes who did not finish the last two races set the fourth best timing of the day after he clocked 1:27:022, while Kimi Raikonnen of Lotus was fifth with a time of 1:27:030. They were followed by McLaren’s duo of Lewis Hamilton (1:27:131) and Jenson Button (1:27:182) at sixth and seventh spot.
Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenburg (1:27:233) set the eighth best timing of the day, while his team-mate Paul di Resta (1:28:004) ended three places behind him.
Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan of HRT clocked 1:31:372 to end the day second last.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhary
Indian Sports News Network
