After the start of the session was dominated by many place-swaps between the front-runners, Alonso posted a 1:15.435 with 37 minutes left, while on soft tires. The Spaniard further increased his advantage by going half a second quicker on the next lap.
His 1:14.904 flying lap couldn’t be bettered by any of his rivals and Alonso remained on top until the end. The Ferrari driver was helped by a light rain which prevented anyone improving their times in the second half of the session.
No teams put on intermediate tires however, as the rain wasn’t heavy. Most cars stayed on track to measure their pace in slippery conditions. There were a few slides but no contacts with the barriers. Nico Rosberg managed to outgun his team mate and post the session’s second time after spending much of the morning in the pits and not being able to shine in the first practice.
Massa was fourth and Schumacher fifth, followed by Renault’s Robert Kubica. The afternoon wasn’t better than the morning for McLaren, with Hamilton seventh and Button ninth, split by Adrian Sutil. Mark Webber was tenth. The session was very competitive, with the difference between Alonso and 11th-placed Vitaly Petrov being only 0.8 seconds.
There were more traffic issues than in the first practice session, including an incident in the final corners where a slowing Massa was caught by Heikki Kovalainen on a flying lap, with the Lotus diving inside the Ferrari and past into the last turn, much to Massa's surprise.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Alonso Ferrari 1:14.904 36
2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.013 + 0.109 39
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:15.099 + 0.195 47
4. Massa Ferrari 1:15.120 + 0.216 44
5. Schumacher Mercedes 1:15.143 + 0.239 38
6. Kubica Renault 1:15.192 + 0.288 38
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.249 + 0.345 32
8. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:15.460 + 0.556 42
9. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.619 + 0.715 37
10. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:15.620 + 0.716 28
11. Petrov Renault 1:15.746 + 0.842 44
12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:16.276 + 1.372 46
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:16.348 + 1.444 48
14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:16.522 + 1.618 37
15. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:16.528 + 1.624 42
16. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:16.599 + 1.695 36
17. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:16.818 + 1.914 45
18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:17.023 + 2.119 28
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:18.184 + 3.280 47
20. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:18.478 + 3.574 38
21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:18.667 + 3.763 13
22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:18.721 + 3.817 41
23. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:20.313 + 5.409 35
24. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:22.148 + 7.244 11
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