Practice Two: Vettel's unbeatable at Suzuka

Red Bull were in a class of their own in Practice Two, sparking fears that the Japanese GP could be a two-horse race between the two Bull drivers

For the second time on Friday, Sebastian Vettel claimed the P1 slot at the Suzuka circuit as the German clocked a 1:31.456. However, even his team-mate Mark Webber was some way off from catching him with the Aussie 0.395s down on Vettel's time.

Robert Kubica was the closest to the Bulls, 0.7s off the pace while Fernando Alonso, who had previously stated that Ferrari should expect a bad weekend in the not-too-distant future may have seen his worries realised as he was almost a full second slower than Vettel.

He finished ahead of Felipe Massa and fellow title contender Jenson Button while Lewis Hamilton, who also still has a shot at Championship glory, was P13 as he running was limited to just eight laps at the very end of the session following his accident in Practice One.

Report: The session got underway with Jaime Alguersuari, Tonio Liuzzi and Kamui Kobayashi quick to make their marks on the timesheets with the Toro Rosso driver leading with a 1:35.875. But it didn't take long before they were overhauled with Adrian Sutil quickest ahead of Nick Heidfeld as within five minutes 14 drivers had already clocked times.

Fernando Alonso took over at the top with a 1:33.159 with the Renaults of Vitaly Petrov, Robert Kubica and Williams' Nico Hulkenberg. Felipe Massa and Jenson Button slotted into fifth and sixth places. Meanwhile, Button reported that he's a lot happier with the car after McLaren adjusted the ride-height - which was most likely the cause of Lewis Hamilton's crash and Button own almost-crash in Practice One.

As to be expected it wasn't long before a Red Bull ventured to the top of the timesheets with Webber taking the P1 slot with a 1:32.574. Alonso was second ahead of Vettel and Michael Schumacher, however, that didn't last long as Vettel hit the front, 0.073s up on his team-mate. The German extended his advantage to 0.365s over Webber and almost a full second up on third-placed Alonso.

Problems for Kubica, who narrowly avoided the barriers at Dunlop, after running off the track. He does, however, manage to continue. Moments later Sakon Yamamoto also ran off the track after missing the apex of the hairpin.

Petrov put in a great effort to get within half a second of Vettel's P1 time while Schumacher climbed to fifth place, sandwiched between the two Ferraris. Buemi got it all wrong at Turn 7 and put his Toro Rosso into an impressive spin. Massa was the first of the big-name drivers to venture out on the softer option tyres, clocking a 1:32.519, which put him up into third place. Schumacher took fifth before losing out to Alonso while Webber overhauled his team-mate at the top with a 1:31.860.

His reign, though, didn't last long as Vettel retook the position with a 1:31.712. The German continued lapping and was set for an even faster time before running into traffic in the form of Liuzzi. However, he was able to extend his advantage on his next lap while Kubica moved up to third place, slotting in ahead of Alonso, Massa and Button.

With eight minutes left in the session, Hamilton finally ventured out for his first lap in his newly-repaired MP4-25. The 2008 Champ crossed the line with a 1:34.542, which put him in 18th place. Hamilton then improved to 13th place but still finished the session two seconds slower than P1 holder Vettel.

Times
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:31.465 31 laps
02. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:31.860 + 0.395 29 laps
03. Kubica Renault 1:32.200 + 0.735 32 laps
04. Alonso Ferrari 1:32.362 + 0.897 34 laps
05. Massa Ferrari 1:32.519 + 1.054 35 laps
06. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.533 + 1.068 28 laps
07. Petrov Renault 1:32.703 + 1.238 32 laps
08. Schumacher Mercedes 1:32.831 + 1.366 27 laps
09. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:32.842 + 1.377 26 laps
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:32.851 + 1.386 26 laps
11. Rosberg Mercedes 1:32.880 + 1.415 26 laps
12. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.471 + 2.006 31 laps
13. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.481 + 2.016 8 laps
14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:33.564 + 2.099 16 laps
15. Heidfeld Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.697 + 2.232 33 laps
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.005 + 2.540 32 laps
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:34.055 + 2.590 37 laps
18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:34.310 + 2.845 33 laps
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:36.095 + 4.630 37 laps
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:36.333 + 4.868 33 laps
21. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:36.630 + 5.165 28 laps
22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:36.834 + 5.369 28 laps
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:37.352 + 5.887 33 laps
24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:37.831 + 6.366 34 laps

Source: Planet-F1