Red Bull charge ahead in second practice

F1 Grand Prix, GP Japan, Circuit Suzuka

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber put their stamp on the Japanese Grand Prix weekend by charging ahead in second free practice. Both men also seemingly displayed dominant pace during the longer runs.

Just 13 minutes into the session, Maldonado already saw his session ended as he overcooked Degner 2. After a shortened FP1 for his due to a loose wheel, this is again a setback for him and the Williams team. Bottas at the same time went wide through Spoon curve but got back on track thanks to the tarmac run-off in that corner.

5 minutes later Perez goes off heavily on the entry of Spoon. The rear jumped out as he put one rear wheel on the artificial grass under braking. It put him into a spin and going into the barrier rear end first. The result is a broken rear right suspension and the end of the session for the young Mexican.

When the cars switched to the medium tyre for a few laps, Alonso and Grosjean also found themselves off track at Degner, both causing no harm and able to continue with their programme.

With half an hour left, Raikkonen beached his Lotus at turn 7, picking up oversteer in the middle of the corner and spinning out into the gravel. An attempt to drive out of the trap himself failed, leaving the car to the marshalls and effectively ending his FP2 while not being able to do his race simulation.

...

What followed were race simulations during which it seemed Mercedes was very much on the pace, very close to the leading Red Bulls which again set the pace. Ferrari had less consistent runs while at Lotus obviously the picture is a bit blurred due to Raikkonen not running in the second half of the session.