Webber stays on topposted in F108 | 04 | 2011
BATHGATE'S PAUL DI RESTA returned to F1 duty today in the second free practice session ahead of Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, but it was Red Bull's Mark Webber who topped the timesheets in both sessions.
The Aussie, frustrated by the handling of his car in the opening race in Melbourne a fortnight ago when he could only finish a distant fifth behind his team-mate Sebastian Vettel who took his first win of the year, was happier today.
"Yeh, everything went well today, so things are looking promising for the weekend," smiled Webber (pictured), whose 1m36.876s put him just 0.005secs ahead of Jenson Button's McLaren, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton third. Vettel had to settle for fourth, 0.241s behind Webber.
It was a promising session too for Mercedes, with Michael Schumacher — who survived an early excursion on to the grass at Turn 6 — and Nico Rosberg finishing fifth and seventh, sandwiching the Ferarri of sixth-placed Felipe Massa in the process.
The second Ferrari of double world champ Fernando Alonso could only manage ninth behind Nick Heidfeld's Renault. The top 10 was rounded off by the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari.
Once again Di Resta — who sat out the morning session while test driver Nico Hulkenberg used his car — outpaced his more experienced team-mate Adrian Sutil; the pair finished 16th and 17th respectively, almost three seconds off the pace. And ominously for the rest of the field, Lewis Hamilton believes the Red Bulls can go at least half-a-second quicker in race pace.
"I'm sure they have another half a second at least to pull out tomorrow," Hamilton said. "I hope it's the case, that we are closer than we were in the last race, but we'll wait and see tomorrow.
"I think it's been interesting. Whether it has been good? We seem to be reasonably close, but I'm sure the Red Bulls will pull something out tomorrow in qualifying. Nonetheless, we found some good things in the set-up of the car.
"Jenson was quite happy in P2. We still have time to find but it's been a productive day, so I can't really complain."
Malaysian Grand Prix — Second Practice Session Times:
1. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault — 1m36.876s 24
2. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes — 1m36.881s + 0.005;
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes — 1m37.010s + 0.134;
4. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault — 1m37.090s + 0.214;
5. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes — 1m38.088s + 1.212;
6. Felipe Massa, Ferrari — 1m38.089s + 1.213;
7. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes — 1m38.565s + 1.689;
8. Nick Heidfeld, Renault — 1m38.570s + 1.694;
9. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari — 1m38.583s + 1.707;
10. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari — 1m38.846s + 1.970;
11. Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Cosworth — 1m38.968s + 2.092;
12. Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth — 1m39.187s + 2.311;
13. Vitaly Petrov, Renault — 1m39.267s + 2.391;
14. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber-Ferrari — 1m39.398s + 2.522;
15. Sergio Perez, Sauber-Ferrari — 1m39.603s + 2.727;
16. Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes — 1m39.625s + 2.749;
17. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes — 1m39.809s + 2.933;
18. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari — 1m40.115s + 3.239;
19. Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth — 1m40.866s + 3.990;
20. Jarno Trulli, Lotus-Renault — 1m41.890s + 5.014;
21. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT-Cosworth — 1m43.197s + 6.321;
22. Tonio Liuzzi, HRT-Cosworth — 1m43.991s + 7.115;
23. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus-Renault — 1m44.886s + 8.010.
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Jim McGill
Photo: Getty Images