Hamilton Tops Second Practice at the Nurburgring

McLaren Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton took his slightly improved MP4-24 on top of the time charts during the second practice session on Friday. Just like in the P1, a short drizzle prevented the field to see much on-track action during the first 30 minutes, after which local favorite Sebastian Vettel set the first fastest time of the session.

Vettel did not stay on top of the timing sheets too long, as McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, BMW's Nick Heidfeld and teammate Mark Webber consecutively scored fastest laps of their own. It was then Jenson Button's turn to put the pressure on the leaders, as he soon started a head-to-head battle for the first spot with Red Bull's Mark Webber.

Vettel's RB5 was then fitted with super soft tires and the German easily left everyone behind, after posting a 1:32.342 lap time of his own.

A short rain again started pouring on the Nurburgring track, but not before Hamilton improved his time and set the fastest time of the afternoon. As the drizzle initially caught him on dry tires, his car spun on Turn 2 of the very previous lap.

Vettel and Button eventually finished with the 2nd and 3rd fastest times of the day, with Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli completing the Top 5. Force India was again inside the Top 10 on Friday, as Adrian Sutil avenged the mechanical problems with his VJM02 during P1 with a strong 6th place performance in the afternoon.

The Top 10 was completed by Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Nelsinho Piquet.

Here are the complete results of P2 on Friday:

1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)                   1:32.149
2. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)                     1:32.331
3. Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)                        1:32.369
4. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)                          1:32.480
5. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)                                               1:32.511
6. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)                      1:32.585
7. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes)                  1:32.664
8. Fernando Alonso (Renault)                                    1:32.774
9. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota)                        1:32.872
10. Nelsinho Piquet (Renault)                                    1:32.992
11. Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber)                               1:33.012
12. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)                                          1:33.052
13. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)                           1:33.128
14. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber)                              1:33.161
15. Timo Glock (Toyota)                                              1:33.172
16. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)                                       1:33.182
17. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)               1:33.724
18. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)                  1:33.903
19. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)              1:34.025
20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes)         1:38.877