Fernando Alonso pipped Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time in the second practice session by 12 thousandths of a second.
The Ferrari driver had a near-miss with the Wall of Champions early on the session, wrestling his car back under to keep it out of the barrier.
Romain Grosjean was third fastest despite sliding off the track at turn two, dragging dirt onto the track.
Mark Webber, fourth fastest had a moment of his own at turn six. He spun to a stop but was able to get going and carry on.
Both Mercedes featured in the top five with Nico Rosberg ahead of Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel. Adrian Sutil was eighth after a bruising trip across the kerbs at the final chicane.
The highest McLaren belonged to Jenson Button in ninth place but he returned to the pits before the end of the session due to a gearbox problem. Daniel Ricciardo completed the top ten.
Despite a heavy threat of rain the track stayed sufficiently dry throughout the session for drivers to run on slick tyres, including Pirelli’s new prototype compound.
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Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
7th June 2013, 20:52
That was a nice save from Alonso: I thought he was destined for the wall of champions!
Otherwise though Red Bull seemed to have great long-run pace: are they starting to get a handle on the tyres slightly?
tmax (@tmax)
7th June 2013, 22:04
@vettel1 LOL… Another Secret Test after Monoco This time for Redbull ???????
Shreyas Mohanty (@)
7th June 2013, 23:44
@vettel1 : i hope not.
obviously
8th June 2013, 1:25
I was immensely relived when I saw he saved it.
DanimalHouse (@thrillerwa09)
7th June 2013, 20:59
The highest McLaren belonged to Jenson Button in ninth place but he returned to the pits before the end of the session due to a gearbox problem.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Please please please no 5-place grid penalty.
cg22me (@cg22me)
7th June 2013, 22:13
With a penalty for Grosjean, and now potential ones for Webber and Button, this really is the chance of the Force Indias to get as high up as possible, and hopefully get some solid points from both drivers.
Though because it’s Practice, I imagine Button should be fine on the Gearbox front, if it’s not the race Gearbox being used.
caci_99
7th June 2013, 22:42
Why penalty for Webber and Button?
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
7th June 2013, 22:20
It depends: the issue was with a gearbox sensor I do believe which caused the gearbox to engage neutral, so unless the gearbox was damaged mechanically as a result of that I think they should just be able to replace the faulty electrical component without having to change the gearbox itself.
We’ll see though!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th June 2013, 11:07
@thrillerwa09 It was Friday, he won’t have his race gearbox in, so nothing to worry about yet.
anon
7th June 2013, 21:54
Looks like Red Bull is going to be 3rd or 4th best car again. Alonso’s race to lose. Needs to convert while the Ferrari has a large advantage, especially over and Red Bull. I’m sure Vettel will flatter his car in qualifying again.
Michael Brown (@)
7th June 2013, 22:24
As a spectator who sat in the grandstands at turn 12 I was happy to see the drivers waving to us after the checkered flag. But it was cold.
Formula1 (@s2g-unit)
7th June 2013, 23:08
i was in section 6 of stand 12. you?
Michael Brown (@)
7th June 2013, 23:48
Section 1 of grandstand 22
Aimal (@aimalkhan)
7th June 2013, 22:27
It looks like Grosjean and Maldonado are stuck in a game of anything you can do i can do better with each other. haha
DaveW (@dmw)
7th June 2013, 23:16
Hamilton has pulled up his socks and is braking late.
Shreyas Mohanty (@)
7th June 2013, 23:42
Even though it was just practice, Alonso leading the times says something about SF’s one-lap pace. Have they improved on that? We’ll see tomorrow.
Jon Sandor (@jonsan)
7th June 2013, 23:47
I don’t think it says very much – Alonso’s time was over a second shy of Vettel’s pole time from last season. It looks like nobody was really pushing for one lap pace today.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
7th June 2013, 23:50
I don’t think we should be looking into it too much at this stage: I think it will be mainly down to who went on the supersofts at what time due to track evolution.
The long runs are more interesting at this point than ultimate lap time but even that doesn’t give a great indication!
Shreyas Mohanty (@)
8th June 2013, 5:01
@jonsan @vettel you are right guys. That’s why i hate fp..nobody does anythng and it is boring :p