Vettel sets Singapore alight

Practice resumed in Singapore tonight on a floodlit Marina Bay circuit.

This night session was much busier than the one held earlier on, as the teams were eager to gather meaningful information – something they couldn’t do in the evening due to the mixed conditions.

Most of the field immediately set off working as the track opened for another 90-minute practice session.

Jenson Button was the early pace-setter and the first to dip under the 1’50 barrier. Ferrari’s Alonso took over at the front with less than twenty minutes gone. The Spaniard kept pushing and set a 1’48’’661 to lead the rest of the field by more than a second. Minutes later, his teammate Felipe Massa moved up to P2, 0.7s down on Alonso.

It was then Sebastian Vettel’s turn to up the pace and the RBR driver posted a 1’48’’559 to go fastest. He found more improvement in the following lap, completing it in 1’47’’824. Mark Webber joined his teammate at the front with just under an hour remaining. The Australian was still 0.760 down on the German.

Lewis Hamilton split the Red Bulls shortly before the halfway point. A few minutes later, Adrian Sutil brought the yellow flags out as his Force India was launched into the air, over the high kerbs at the Turn 10 Singapore sling. He picked up front left suspension damage and had to pull off the track at Turn 18.

Early pacesetter Jenson Button popped up at the front again with 40 minutes remaining, with a 1’47’’690. Vettel immediately reacted and reclaimed the top spot. He even pushed harder and set a 1’46’’660 to go one full second faster than his rivals.

Having slipped down to 6th, Webber moved up to P2 but was still one second slower than his teammate. Alonso was about to improve when he made a mistake at Turn 18. He reversed back onto the circuit and appeared to stall his Ferrari. His session was over with 20 minutes remaining.

Cars lapped mainly in high-fuel trim in the final part of the session, which meant there was no major improvement. Sebastian Vettel still set an impressive pace and held on to the top spot. Webber made it a Red Bull one-two although he was 0.6s slower than his teammate.

Jenson Button was third fastest, one second down on Vettel. Alonso and Hamilton completed the top five. Rubens Barrichello took an encouraging sixth place, ahead of Massa and Rosberg. Kubica and Schumacher rounded off the top ten.