Nico Rosberg remained the quickest driver around a very wet Interlagos circuit during the second practice session.
Conditions worsened ahead of the second practice session leading most drivers to spent the majority of the 90 minutes’ running in their garages.
Rosberg was among those to venture out for a few lonely laps of the soaked circuit. At one point he asked where the traffic was around him and was told “Ross [Brawn] says you’re the only one dumb enough to be out there at the moment!”
It wasn’t until the final 20 minutes of running that conditions dried sufficiently to entice the whole field onto the circuit on intermediate tyres. One of the first drivers to try the intermediates was Fernando Alonso, who moved up to third place early on before dropping to eleventh at the end of the session.
Sebastian Vettel avoided running at all until the track was quick enough for intermediate tyres. He took over the fastest time for Rosberg with a few minutes remaining.
The short track was becoming increasing congested in the final minutes of practice. But Rosberg managed to find a gap behind Alonso for a final flying run which moved him back to the top of the times. Vettel, who was catching Pastor Maldonado’s Williams, ended the session second-quickest.
Mark Webber was third, a few hundredths of a second slower than his team mate, while coping with an intermittent KERS problem. Heikki Kovalainen took fourth for Lotus.
Despite a high-speed 360-degree spin after switching to intermediates, Lewis Hamilton set the fifth-fastest time. Jean-Eric Vergne took a promising sixth for Toro Rosso.
Felipe Massa was the highest-placed Ferrari driver ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean.
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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
22nd November 2013, 18:08
Heikki on steroids :)
Swindle94 (@swindle94)
22nd November 2013, 18:13
Here’s hoping for a webber, massa, hulkenburg podium
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
22nd November 2013, 18:31
Exactly, I’m also wishing for same podium :)
bull mello (@bullmello)
22nd November 2013, 18:53
That sounds good to me!
electrolite (@electrolite)
22nd November 2013, 22:10
Hell yes!
bull mello (@bullmello)
22nd November 2013, 19:00
Anyone dreaming for a wet race may well get their wish come true. With rain predicted for Saturday and Sunday, I hope the teams have enough wet and inter tires.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd November 2013, 19:12
I think it would be lovely if Massa won it, or Webber. Or maybe a Hulkenberg win?
On the other hand, I really am unsure what to predict for qualifying and the race.
bosyber (@bosyber)
22nd November 2013, 19:30
Will probably look promising at the start but then dry out with vettel winning ahead of rosberg and grosjean, or something @bascb :)
Neiana (@neiana)
22nd November 2013, 19:39
The only one dumb enough to practice in the harsh conditions will probably be the only one dumb enough to cross the finish line first.
I call Rosberg merely because he chose to practice while the others, not so much. Then I figure it’ll be Heikki and Lewis battling with Vettel back in 5th after a spin.
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
22nd November 2013, 21:31
This is the first rain hit session since the beginning of the season, which at the time, Rosberg was also the top of, so he could be one of the favourites for the win, but I’d certainly put him in my top 3 if the rain continues throughout the weekend.
…And maybe Hulkenberg too, considering how great he has been at Interlagos, with changing conditions.
electrolite (@electrolite)
22nd November 2013, 22:12
@jamiefranklin I think he could be up there rain or dry… Austin was bad yeah, but two podiums in the previous races, so he’s not totally out of form. Not to forget Mercedes have been pretty handy around the tight and twisty tracks (Monaco, Hungaroring)!
electrolite (@electrolite)
22nd November 2013, 22:13
@jamiefranklinf1