Felipe Massa tops second Indian Grand Prix practice

Felipe Massa put Ferrari on top as the Formula 1 teams continued to get to grips with India's Buddh International circuit in the second free practice session ahead of this weekend's inaugural grand prix in the nation.

While the Ferrari's new front wing continued to prompt distinctive showers of sparks as it vibrated again the track surface, the revised car showed promising pace, with Massa lapping the dusty track in 1m25.706s 18 minutes before the end of the session to claim the top spot.

His team-mate Fernando Alonso also showed well in third, 0.224 seconds off Massa's pace.

They were split by champion Sebastian Vettel, whose Red Bull had been quickest for the majority of the afternoon, until Massa's fast time saw the German pipped by 0.088s.

Morning pacesetter Lewis Hamilton, who will go into qualifying for a three-place grid penalty for disregarding yellow flags earlier today, was fourth quickest in the best of the McLarens, with his team-mate Jenson Button sixth behind Mark Webber's Red Bull.

Force India took 'best of the rest' honours in front of its effective home crowd thanks to Adrian Sutil's seventh place, two positions ahead of team-mate Paul di Resta, as they sandwiched Vitaly Petrov's Renault. Sebastien Buemi completed the top 10 for Toro Rosso.

The Mercedes were further back than usual in 19th (Nico Rosberg) and 21st (Michael Schumacher) - the seven-time champion having missed some of the session while an issue was resolved on his car.

There were plenty of small incidents as the drivers explored the track's limits, particularly at Turn 6, and one red flag after Jerome D'Ambrosio went off at Turn 11 and ended up backed his Virgin into the barriers, causing significant damage. He was unhurt and the session quickly resumed.

Petrov also had a spin in his Renault, while Pastor Maldonado dumped his Williams in the Turn 9 gravel early on but was retrieved in time to rejoin the session and complete 24 laps.

Pos  Driver                Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m25.706s          33
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m25.794s  + 0.088  34
 3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m25.930s  + 0.224  34
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m26.454s  + 0.748  26
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m26.500s  + 0.794  30
 6.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m26.714s  + 1.008  28
 7.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m27.316s  + 1.610  34
 8.  Bruno Senna           Renault                1m27.498s  + 1.792  36
 9.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m27.853s  + 2.147  35
10.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m27.868s  + 2.162  35
11.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                1m27.890s  + 2.184  37
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m28.050s  + 2.344  34
13.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m28.289s  + 2.583  36
14.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m28.552s  + 2.846  31
15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1m28.691s  + 2.985  29
16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1m28.708s  + 3.002  24
17.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault          1m29.332s  + 3.626  39
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault          1m30.241s  + 4.535  41
19.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m31.098s  + 5.392  38
20.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth        1m31.469s  + 5.763  32
21.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m31.804s  + 6.098  28
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1m32.593s  + 6.887  12
23.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth           1m32.768s  + 7.062  33
24.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth           1m32.824s  + 7.118  33


All Timing Unofficial

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