Sebastian Vettel went one better in second practice for the European Grand Prix to go quickest ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India.
The German improved on his FP1 laptime by some 1.5 seconds to go top of the timesheets, making the most of his heavily revised RB8 which has new sidepods and a new rear-wing.
Hulkenberg impressed with a time just over a tenth slower than Vettel with Kamui Kobayashi topping off the top three cars.
Michael Schumacher had one of his better sessions to finish fourth quickest, though it wasn’t without incident after he complained of a ‘drive issue’ – which was quickly fixed.
Bruno Senna finished fifth quickest which supports a strong weekend for Williams after Maldonado was quickest in first practice but fell to 13th in FP2.
Pedro de la Rosa clattered some kerbing sending him into the Valencia walls which heavily damaged his front-wing.
2012 European GP FP2 Results:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:39.334 | 33 | |
| 02. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:39.465 | +0.131 | 32 |
| 03. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:39.595 | +0.261 | 20 |
| 04. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:39.601 | +0.267 | 27 |
| 05. | B. Senna | Williams | 1:39.644 | +0.310 | 34 |
| 06. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:39.700 | +0.366 | 32 |
| 07. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:39.733 | +0.399 | 34 |
| 08. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:39.898 | +0.534 | 33 |
| 09. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:39.901 | +0.567 | 30 |
| 10. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:39.926 | +0.592 | 32 |
| 11. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:39.945 | +0.611 | 34 |
| 12. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:39.990 | +0.656 | 33 |
| 13. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:40.075 | +0.741 | 29 |
| 14. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:40.147 | +0.813 | 25 |
| 15. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:40.244 | +0.910 | 35 |
| 16. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:40.511 | +1.177 | 29 |
| 17. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:40.963 | +1.626 | 20 |
| 18. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:41.121 | +1.787 | 32 |
| 19. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:41.197 | +1.863 | 38 |
| 20. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:41.263 | +1.929 | 29 |
| 21. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:42.424 | +3.090 | 21 |
| 22. | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:42.958 | +3.624 | 30 |
| 23. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:44.201 | +4.876 | 33 |
| 24. | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:44.260 | +4.926 | 12 |
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