Marina Bay, 21 September

The second session of free practice for the Singapore Grand Prix has just finished in the amazing setting of Marina Bay. Under the circuit’s artificial lights, both Ferrari drivers managed to make the most of the time available to complete the work they started in the afternoon’s first session. At the end of the session the F2012s of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa lined up with the third (1.48.896) and ninth (1.50.039) fastest times. The session was again dominated by Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull, who went fastest with 1.48.340 ahead of the McLaren of Jenson Button, who was second with 1.48.651.

On the uneven surface of the street track, which is dominated by slow corners, Scuderia Ferrari mainly concentrated on the aerodynamic configuration of the two F2012s to ensure the best traction on the exits of the corners. As usual for a Friday, there was also a comparison between the two tyre compounds brought here by Pirelli (Soft and Super Soft) and a long run for both drivers. By the end of today’s practice a clear difference had emerged between the two Pirelli compounds in terms of lap time. That hasn’t been a major factor in the last two races but could be decisive for race strategy here at Singapore. Now the two Scuderia drivers will carry out a detailed evaluation of the data collected today ahead of the third and final session of free practice scheduled for 1800 tomorrow.