Second practice in India held the same result as the first practice session in India today as Sebastian Vettel again topped the time sheets.
Despite another KERS issue early on in the session, Vettel clocked a time of 1.25.722 with team mate Mark Webber trailing almost three tenths behind him in second place.
Lotus driver Romain Grosjean came closest to the Red Bull drivers but his time was almost half a second off the mark set by Vettel. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen managed only eighth after running wide in turn ten during his fastest flier on the soft tyres.
Pastor Maldonado missed the final 20 minutes of running after a wheel nut came loose. The front right wheel nut on his Williams came off at turn 5 and forced him to stop just before the pit lane entrance. Williams received a large fine for his wheel coming off in Japan and there are fears that the same hefty fine will be imposed again but the wheel remained on his Williams this time around which may just save them from penalty.
There was plenty of wear on the front left tyres with many drivers complaining about the degradation. The soft tyres seem to start going off after about 6 or 7 laps and it seems unlikely that they’ll last longer than 12-15 laps.
For now, Vettel looks dominant in his Red Bull – without or without KERS trouble. It seems the champ is dead set on making it four in a row this weekend.
Here is the full timesheet for second practice: