Race 14 - Singapore - Vettel leads Alonso in practice

Red Bull Renault is well aware that they need to throw caution to the wind and go for wins if they are to challenge Brawn Mercedes and go for championship glory. The second practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend saw Sebastian Vettel set the pace with a best lap of 1:48.650s in his Red Bull, while team-mate Mark Webber pushed too hard and crashed his RB5 and was forced to miss most of the session.

There was no sign of Vettel and Red Bull conserving the dwindling supply of Renault engines as the German driver completed a full programme, lapping the 5.067km circuit nearly three-tenths clear of the field. Webber set the initial pace and enjoyed a cushion three-tenths ahead Vettel but lost control of his RB5 and crashed with just over a third of the session complete.

Fernando Alonso vaulted second fastest right at the end of the 90 minute session in the leading Renault. With sponsorship branding removed ahead of the practice today, the team are looking to put the events of the recent weeks and firmly behind them and today Alonso was right on the limit of the oversteering R29.

Heikki Kovalainen was also pushing very hard for McLaren as he recorded the third fastest time of the day while team-mate Lewis Hamilton proved especially rapid in the first sector of the lap, but could not maintain the pace over the lap as a whole and ended the day ninth.

BMW Sauber has many updates and additions to the F1.09 package in Singapore, with Nick Heidfeld in particular showing well on the way to the fourth fastest time ahead of championship leader Jenson Button in the leading Brawn Mercedes and Webber.

Nico Rosberg struggled at the Italian Grand Prix but he and the Williams team hope that the demands of a street circuit will be better suited to the characteristics of the FW31. He set the seventh fastest time ahead of Timo Glock in the leading Toyota, Hamilton and Robert Kubica in the second BMW Sauber.

After setting the pace in the first session, Rubens Barrichello was just 11th in the evening for Brawn and very nearly ended his session prematurely after he took too much kerbing in turns one and two - before understeering lightly into the outside retaining wall at turn three.

Force India Mercedes impressed greatly at both Spa Francorchamps and Monza, but at this high downforce circuit, Adrian Sutil was just 12th ahead of Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota while Tonio Liuzzi was 18th ahead of Romain Grosjean and Jaime Alguersuari.

It was not a good day for the Ferrari team with Kimi Raikkonen 14th and Giancarlo Fisichella 16th, while Grosjean sat out the first half of the session as Renault finished off the repairs required following his crash earlier in the day. The French rookie then suffered a brake issue on the R29 which limited his running to just 17 laps and he ended the 19th of the 20 runners.

After three hours of Friday running Red Bull, Brawn Mercedes and McLaren Mercedes all look strong ahead of the all important Saturday morning practice session

F1 : Vettel leads Alonso in Singapore practice - SINGAPOUR - F1-Live.com

Sebastian Vettel pushed to the head of the timesheets in the second practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday evening, as Red Bull team mate Mark Webber set the initial pace before crashing.

The Australian lapped his RB5 in 1m 49.317s to Vettel's 1m 49.621s, but then spun in the final corner and damaged the right-hand side of his car against the wall, bringing out the red flag for the second time in the day. When the session resumed Vettel soon pushed ahead, with 1m 48.650s.

Fernando Alonso improved to 1m 48.924s for Renault right at the end of the hour and a half, pushing Heikki Kovalainen down to third, the Finn having lapped his McLaren in 1m 48.952s.

Nick Heidfeld, who had earlier on been quickest for BMW Sauber, was fourth on 1m 49.098s. The German had a gearbox change in the earlier session, but it remains to be seen whether he will incur a grid penalty.

Jenson Button was fifth for Brawn on 1m 49.311s, with Webber sixth on the strength of his 1m 49.317s. Yet again the times in the midfield were very tight; Nico Rosberg was seventh for Williams on 1m 49.333s, just ahead of Timo Glock who took his Toyota round in 1m 49.342s and Lewis Hamilton, who did 1m 49.358s in the second McLaren. Then came BMw Sauber's Robert Kubica (1m 49.609s), Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello (1m 49.616s), Force India's Adrian Sutil (1m 49.710s), Toyota's Jarno Trulli (1m 49.795s) and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen (1m 49.941s), rounded out those below 1m 50s.

Kazuki Nakajima was 15th in the second Williams on 1m 50.023s, ahead of Ferrari's Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 50.253s), Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi (1m 50.527s), Force India's Tonio Liuzzi (1m 50.605s) and Renault's Romain Grosjean (1m 50.972s). Jaime Alguersuari brought up the tail of the field for Toro Rosso on 1m 51.423s.

The track was very slippery, and the bumps notably upset several cars. But besides Webber, Sutil was the only spinner, in Turn Seven

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Hamilton on pole..