Vettel fastest in Suzuka practice

Red Bull driver dominates second timesheet ahead of Japanese Grand Prix.

SUZUKA: Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel was fastest in yesterday’s free practice for a Japanese Grand Prix that could secure his fourth successive title.

The German, who will wrap up the championship if he wins tomorrow and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso fails to finish in the top eight, lapped with a best time of one minute 33.852 seconds in an afternoon session with plenty of incidents.

“The car balance is decent, but I think we can still improve,” said the Red Bull driver, who had been third and behind the two Mercedes drivers in a morning session led by Lewis Hamilton.

“It’s good to see we are up there today, but it’s not always so important; we need to step up our game for tomorrow [today], as Mercedes will be strong in qualifying.”

Alonso, 77 points adrift of the German with five races remaining, ended the day with sixth and 10th places on the two timesheets.

“We were not as competitive as we wanted to be and now we must try and improve, putting together a series of changes that we already have in mind,” said Alonso.

As the Spaniard got out of the car and removed his helmet at the end of the second session, he was shocked to be told of the death in Spain of compatriot and former Marussia test driver Maria de Villota.

The news left the Suzuka paddock mourning a friend, with emotional tributes to a woman who had remained passionate about the sport despite losing an eye in a life-threatening test accident last year.

Accidents mar first day of practice

While Vettel took up his familiar place at the top of the timesheets, others hit trouble.

Sergio Perez, who suffered a hair-rising puncture at last weekend’s Korean Grand Prix, skidded into a wall at high speed, leaving his McLaren badly dented and needing to ice down his right wrist after returning to the garage.

Alonso, one of many drivers who blasted tyre-makers Pirelli after Korea, spun at the tricky ninth turn, trashing his compound rubbers in the process.

Kimi Raikkonen lasted just two minutes on his medium tyre run, forced to abandon his Lotus after burying it deep in the gravel, but still posted the fourth-quickest time of the second practice.

Vettel then overtook pace-setter Alonso to get the Spaniard even hotter under the collar, with track temperatures nudging above 40 degrees Celsius.

Vettel has won the last four grands prix to open a 77-point lead with only 125 available from the last five races.

Lewis Hamilton had lapped quickest in the day’s first free practice in 1:34.157, three tenths clear of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, in another lively session which included the worrying sight of a wheel hurtling through the air.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2013.

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