L2: Alonso shines at home

After the traditional installation laps at the start of the session, the drivers quickly appear on the Valencian track for the second free practice session of the European Grand Prix. After 10 minutes of session, 13 drivers are already on track and taking turns at the top of the timesheet. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Renault), Adrian Sutil (Force India)? who benefit from new features on its car ? then again Alonso set the best time in turn. In 1:41.861, the Spaniard then signed the first reference time? half a second faster than that of Barrichello during Free 1.

On a track that cleans up over the laps, Romain Grosjean (Renault) justifies all the good things his team thinks of him by climbing into 7th position with a time of 1:42.722, just 8 tenths behind his teammate shortly before the half-hour mark. The times improved little by little for all the competitors and it was finally Nico Rosberg (Williams) which stands out in 1:41.588. Behind, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Fernando Alonso, Adrian Sutil and Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP) follow in that order.

Alors que l?on approche de la mi-séance, les Brawn GP décident de prendre le taureau par les cornes et se placent à leur tour aux avant-postes. Jenson Button (Brawn GP) signe alors un probant 1:41.534 tandis que son équipier Rubens Barrichello, avec un chrono de 1:41.596, pointe à la troisième position derrière Rosberg. La bataille ne faiblit pas, à en juger par le chrono des six premiers qui se tiennent en 0.127 sec. Rosberg réplique aux Brawn GP en se hissant de nouveau en tête (1:41.394) suivi bientôt par Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli (Toyota).

Rubens Barrichello is the first to go under the 1?41 mark, immediately imitated by Jenson Button. Shortly before the last half hour, the two Brawn GPs showed that they seemed to have found solutions to display a level of performance worthy of their rank. Third, Jarno Trulli also illustrates the return to form of the Toyotas after a difficult period during the last Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso's R29 also seems to confirm all of its potential seen in Budapest after the Spanish driver's pole position. In 1:40.620, the latter regains the lead as we enter the final straight. Less than a quarter of an hour from the end, however, the Spaniard made a mistake in the last corner and collided with Nick Heidfeld (BMW). Alonso destroys his front wing but neither driver is injured.

In the final moments of the session, Nakajima, Rosberg then Barrichello passed Alonso on the scoreboard but the latter left with a new front wing and put everyone in agreement by improving Barrichello?s time by almost eight tenths! In the end, at home, the Spaniard set the best time in 1:39.404 ahead of the two Brawn GPs and the two Williams. Finally, Romain Grosjean (Renault) sets the 13th time in the same tenth as Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari).