Having started strongly on Tuesday, Alonso finished behind Vettel at the close of day one, but the Spaniard was again out in front at the second time of asking.Heikki Kovalainen got day two going as he put the T128 through its paces for the first time in the form of an instillation lap. The initial feedback from the Lotus garage was one positive, with technical director Mike Gascoyne reporting that both team and driver were happy with its first run.
Having made adjustments to the car during the morning, the Norfolk-based outfit will be hoping to get some mileage on the car in the afternoon.
It wasn't long before the red flag made its first appearance of the day as Ruben Barrichello's Williams came to a halt out on track. The stoppage was a result of an electrical problem which caused a loss of power and it did not prevent the Brazilian from getting further laps under his belt later in the session.
Driving Force India's 2010 model, Paul di Resta notched up a time of 1:15.314, the fastest in the early running, before promptly going off at turn two and bringing out the red flag once again. The Scot's time was enough to end the session third, an impressive performance from the newcomer.
Lewis Hamilton made his first appearance in the old MP-25, producing a string of mid-range laps the best of which was a 1:14.701.
Having topped the time sheets on day one, Vettel again performed strongly on day two, producing a lap of 1:13.614, which remained the number to beat for the majority of the session.
However, it was Alonso who posted the fastest time of Wednesday's opening session with a 1:13.307. The Spaniard was there are thereabouts throughout the session before knocking Vettel off the top of the leaderboard with a 1:13.469 before improving on it just before the break.
Alonso will at least be glad not to have endured the drama that followed his countryman, Jaime Alguersuari.
The youngster first spun into the gravel before only narrowly avoiding a collision with Sauber's Sergio Perez as the former exited the pit lane. In between all the drama, Alguersuari managed to put in more laps than any other driver and to nip round in a time of 1:16.474, the seventh fastest of the day.
Aside from a near miss with Alguersuari, Perez enjoyed an uneventful start to life in F1, finishing ahead of TImo Glock's Virgin (1:17.228), Barrichello's Williams (1:17.344) and Narain Karthikeyan's Hispania (1:17.823) with a 1:17.019.
Renault and Mercedes may have been the two teams fighting it out behind the frontrunners last season, but the two teams are having vastly different fortunes thus far in 2011.
Kubica improved on yesterday's performance from Vitaly Petrov by some distance, notching up a 1:14.412, the fourth fastest time of the session, and the third quickest by a team using a 2011 model.
Conversely, Merc GP's struggles continued on Wednesday. Having been hindered by a hydraulics problem on day one, Rosberg brought out his second red flag in two days when he came to a standstill at turn eleven. The only silver lining for the team will be that when Rosberg was running he managed to go over a second quicker than the team's fastest lap yesterday, set by Michael Schumacher.
Unofficial Times:
01. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:13.469 56 laps
02. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:13.614 + 0.145 43 laps
03. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:13.844 + 0.375 43 laps
04. Robert Kubica Renault 1:14.412 + 0.943 44 laps
05. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.701 + 1.232 35 laps
06. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.383 + 1.914 36 laps
07. Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.474 + 3.005 64 laps
08. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:17.019 + 3.550 39 laps
09. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:17.288 + 3.819 32 laps
10. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:17.344 + 3.875 48 laps
11. Narain Karthikeyan Hispania-Cosworth 1:17.823 + 4.354 50 laps
Source: Planet-F1
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