Free Practice 2: Hamilton surprises Vettel and Button

Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the second free practice session for the German Grand Prix. The McLaren driver, who was behind this morning, is now ahead of Vettel (Red Bull Renault) and Button (Brawn GP Mercedes) leading up to tomorrow’s qualifying session.

At exactly 2 p.m., the drivers set off for the second practice session of the day. The weather conditions are still poor. It’s cool, and the session will even be briefly interrupted by a shower midway through. The drivers will have only been able to run on slick tires for one hour out of the hour and a half available to them.

Hamilton loves the rain and yet it is in the dry that he sets his best time, in the final minutes of the session. He first spun around, then in a burst of pride manages to set the fastest time on the next lap. He beats Vettel by 182 thousandths.

With his mechanical problem this morning, Vettel was the first to leave the pits. He recovered well and relegated his teammate Mark Webber to two-tenths of a second behind. The Australian was among the drivers who cleared the track after the downpour, like Heidfeld or Kovalainen. He finished 4th, just behind Button.

Trulli is once again performing well with Toyota. This morning he was 4th, and this time he’s 5th. The situation is identical for Force India. This morning the Indian team had one driver at the front and one at the back of the grid. But the name has changed. It was Fisichella who encountered an issue this afternoon. Under the downpour, a spin damaged his car. Sutil takes advantage of the lost time this morning and places himself in 6th position, four-tenths behind Hamilton.

Rubens Barrichello manages to find some solutions but is still lacking speed. He holds the 7th place, ahead of Fernando Alonso. His teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr., is 10th in the other R29. Between the two Renaults, it’s Nakajima’s Williams that slots in, beating his colleague Rosberg, who is in 13th place.

Heidfeld is in the same position as this morning, 11th, while Ferrari is having a much harder time than a few hours ago. The horses, although rearing, haven’t found the rhythm. Massa is 12th, Räikkönen only 16th.

Kovalainen could not keep up with Hamilton’s speed. On the McLaren, the Finn is only 17th and finished his last lap in the grass…

Unlike this morning, it’s Buemi who is faster than Bourdais. The Swiss wins the ‘battle’ by 0.120 seconds in 18th place.

Free Practice 2 Results – German Grand Prix – Friday July 10, 2009: