Local favourite Fernando Alonso wound up fastest as the second 90-minute practice session came to a close in Valencia on Friday afternoon. The Ferrari driver led the Red Bull pairing as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the quickest Mercedes GP and McLaren lap times. However, Felipe Massa lost running time after a Turn 5 spin.
After Rosberg and Mercedes sat atop the timesheets in the morning, Alonso shot to the forefront as the afternoon sun confirmed ambient temperatures of a very pleasant 25°C (77°F) in the port area of the city which is home to legendary dish Paella.
In a session which featured little in terms of incident, drivers continued to struggle with the surface of the race track, which contains a fine layer of powder and has caught most of the field out today. After Bruno Senna lost his left mirror in the morning, which was subsequently hit by Sébastien Buemi, it was Rosberg’s turn to run over abandoned car parts under braking for Turn 20 in the latest session.
Vitantonio Liuzzi’s car could be seen to carry loose gurney tape on its rear wing although it was the Ferrari of 2008 winner Massa which was in most trouble, losing all rear end grip upon exiting Turn 5, narrowly avoiding a left-rear grazing of the wall and stopping, stalled, in the centre of the road; the Brazilian was able to rejoin later in the session, having made his way back to the garage on foot.
Vitaly Petrov also found himself in the wars, having to reverse in order to rejoin after spinning the Renault on the exit of Turn 14; unlike with Massa’s moment, though, no red flags were deployed.
The top teams shared time at the top of the listings, with Alonso’s upgraded Ferrari having been on P1 early doors before both Red Bull drivers and Rosberg also enjoyed several minutes as the quickest man.
However, it was Alonso’s best effort of 1:39.283 which cemented the top spot for the day, albeit being just 56 thousandths quicker than Vettel, carrying an f-duct at Red Bull – as is team-mate Mark Webber - for the first time since Barcelona.
Timo Glock's session ended early for Virgin Racing as the former Toyota man, who is the lap record holder in Valencia, lost fifth gear and was forced to pull over at Turn 12.
There was a notable moment in the final two minutes as Lewis Hamilton, motoring towards the final corner, found Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes on the racing line as the 7-time World Champion wound himself up for a quick lap. Having to move off the quicker line himself, the Istanbul and Montreal winner could be seen with a hand out of the cockpit before momentarily turning towards the German, seemingly to compromise the Kerpen driver’s next lap out of frustration.
With Massa ending the day seventh, fellow Paulista and Valencia victor Rubens Barrichello completed a clean session tenth fastest for Williams.
The hour-long third and final practice session in Valencia will begin at 11am local time on Saturday (BST +1)
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