• German Grand Prix - FP2

Vettel tops closer FP2 in Germany

Sebastian Vettel was 0.235s clear of Nico Rosberg at the Nurburgring © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Race:
• German Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Nico Rosberg
• |
• Sebastian Vettel
• |
• Mark Webber

• Teams:
• Mercedes
• |
• Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of a much closer second practice session for the German Grand Prix.

Having been over a second off the pace set by Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes dominated FP1, Vettel went quickest on the soft compound tyres with a time of 1:30.416. Mercedes remained strong as Nico Rosberg was second quickest - 0.235s slower than Vettel - with Mark Webber a further 0.032s back in third place.

It was an encouraging session for Lotus as both Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen finished inside the top five, with the pair of them within half a second off the pace set by Vettel. Fernando Alonso recovered from his lack of running in FP1 by completing 39 laps and setting the sixth fastest time.

Hamilton - quickest in the morning session - was 0.888s off the pace as he failed to put together a quick time on the soft tyres, leaving him 0.3s ahead of Jenson Button in ninth and half a second clear of Paul di Resta in 10th.

While the headline times give an indication of each team's qualifying pace, it was the longer runs that provided the chance to assess who is likely to be strong in Sunday's race, with Red Bull predictably good on high fuel. Lotus and Ferrari were also competitive, while Mercedes looked slightly off the pace again.

Having missed FP1 while Rodolfo Gonzalez got a run for Marussia, Jules Bianchi was back in the car for the afternoon session but only managed to complete 10 laps before a stomach upset concluded his running early. Despite the lack of track time, Bianchi still ended the session over 0.6s quicker than team-mate Max Chilton.

Chris Medland is assistant editor at ESPNF1

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.