Singapore GP: Williams F1 struggles in FP2

The start of the second Friday practice session would see the Force India cars come out early followed by both Williams cars with Valtteri Bottas leading out Pastor Maldonado. Sutil would set the first time with a 1m:51.501 as more drivers took to the track. These early runs would see the medium tyre in use again but expect to see the super soft tyre later in the session. Valtteri would go quickest with a 1m:50.057 but Sutil would move back ahead with Valtteri second from Ricciardo, Pic, and Hulkenberg. Perez was now fastest with a 1m:49.652 while Pastor was down in tenth with a slow lap of 1m:56.515. But Pastor would improve with a 1m:52.380 to be fifth. But this was a considerable margin behind his earlier practice time.

Pic was now fifth with a 1m:52.120 as Button went fastest with a 1m:49.287. Valtteri would also improve with a 1m:49.585 to be second but this would be third as Rosberg went fastest with a 1m:48.281. But Vettel would also go fastest with a 1m:46.853 running on medium tyres. Rosberg was second from Button, Sutil, Valtteri, and Perez in sixth. Pastor had dropped to be twelfth as more drivers went faster. Massa was now third, 1m:49.087, as Pastor went eleventh. Valtteri was now sixth followed by Ricciardo, Perez, Hulkenberg, and Gutierrez in tenth. Rosberg would set an improved with a 1m:47.633 but remained second. Alonso was now third followed by Perez and Raikkonen.

Hamilton was now second with a lap time of 1m:47.166 after having made a small mistake on his lap. Webber would also go very quick setting a 1m:46.489 to be quickest with second placed Vettel having set a 1m:46.853. Rosberg would also improve with a 1m:46.962 remaining in third. For the Williams team Valtteri had dropped to twelfth while Pastor was down in seventeenth. Vettel would move ahead of his team-mate going fastest with a 1m:46.408. Both Williams drivers had pitted as Webber started another quick lap. He would go faster with a 1m:46.157 to again be quickest. With twenty minutes of the session completed it was Webber from Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso, Perez, Gutierrez, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, and Massa in tenth. Again Grosjean was stuck in his garage with an issue with his car.

Valtteri would return to the track with the Williams team focusing on tyre work in this session. The only other driver on the track was Vergne. Also coming out was Ricciardo being the first driver to try the super soft tyre. Ricciardo had set a 1m:49.644 prior to his change but his first lap on the option tyre would see him set a 1m:46.406 to be second. Grosjean had finally left the pit lane with his issue sorted. Pastor was now also back on the track with an hour remaining. Valtteri was now fourteenth and Pastor eighteenth. Grosjean's first lap would see him seventh with a 1m:47.852. More cars were coming out on the super soft tyres including both Red Bull's. Alonso was also out on the option tyre with the track now very busy. Pastor was also on the option tyre and on his first lap would move up to eighth with a 1m:47.969.

Vettel would go fastest with a 1m:44.249 to be 1.9 seconds ahead of Webber. Hulkenberg was in sixth as Valtteri pitted. Webber was on a quick lap but could not match Vettel only setting a 1m:44.853. Alonso would also gain from the super soft tyre to be third, 1m:45.691, with Raikkonen fourth, 1m:45.778. Pastor was ninth but would drop to tenth as Gutierrez took this spot. Valtteri was now sixteenth as Hamilton went third with a 1m:45.551. But team-mate Rosberg moved ahead with a 1m:45.258 seeing the Mercedes cars third and fourth. Alonso was now fifth followed by Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Massa, Hulkenberg, and Gutierrez. Pastor had pitted after his option tyre run. Both Red Bull cars had pitted with fifty minutes remaining. Grosjean was able to move up to fourth, 1m:45.411, with Hamilton fifth.

Pastor was now thirteenth and Valtteri sixteenth. Valtteri had yet to complete a run on the option tyre joined by Perez, Raikkonen, Di Resta, and Sutil. Button was on the track and on a quicker lap as Valtteri returned to the track. Perez would join Button on their option tyre run finishing with a 1m:45.754 to be seventh. Both Force India cars were also out on their option tyre runs. Valtteri would set a personal best in sectors one and two. Vettel was back out on the track again on the option tyre but more likely doing a heavier fuel run. Valtteri would only manage a 1m:47.434 to be only seventeenth. This would put him one place ahead of team-mate Pastor. This session was again showing the Williams drivers lack of pace in their troublesome FW35. Webber and Rosberg were also back out with forty minutes remaining. Sutil had moved up to ninth and Perez tenth. Both Valtteri and Pastor would return to the track with Pastor running again on the option tyre. At this stage of the session Pastor was over three tenths slower than his team-mate.

Drivers were into their race simulations with times showing that drivers were running heavier fuel loads. Grosjean had pitted joining the McLaren and Force India cars. For Williams Pastor would go straight on at Turn 13 putting his front wing into the wall. Pastor was able to get his car out and continue returning to the pits to be wheeled into his garage. With less than twenty minutes remaining all except Grosjean were out on the track. Pastor had a new nose fitted and was back out on the medium tyre. With ten minutes remaining Valtteri and Pastor were still down in seventeenth and eighteenth with Valtteri running off the track at Turn seven. Pastor would pit while Valtteri was warned about his front wing to be careful under braking. The team said: “Some occasional issues with the front wing as we had in previous races, just be careful under braking.” Pastor would be shown to have another moment running off the track at Turn sixteen. Pastor was able to continue prior to pitting.

As the final minutes counted down Valtteri would also pit ending his day. With the end of the session Vettel was leading from Webber. Rosberg and Hamilton were third and fourth but over a second slower than the Red Bull's. Grosjean was fifth from Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Sutil, and Perez tenth. After their encouraging first session the Williams F1 team would see their drivers drop well down the times with the team and drivers appearing to have major issues during the session with both drivers having off's and the team having issues with the front wing. Being down in seventeenth and eighteenth it is going to be difficult to see the Williams cars move up the field. A lot of homework for the Williams team as they try to find pace from the FW35.

Pos Driver         	  Team		        Time     Laps
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m44.249s 34
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m44.853s 30
 3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m45.258s 34
 4. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m45.368s 33
 5. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m45.411s 18
 6. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m45.691s 32
 7. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m45.754s 30
 8. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m45.778s 32
 9. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m46.002s 27
10. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m46.025s 31
11. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m46.406s 34
12. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m46.429s 33
13. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m46.606s 33
14. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m46.808s 36
15. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m46.870s 33
16. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m47.287s 29
17. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m47.434s 33
18. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m47.761s 25
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m49.434s 34
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m49.526s 34
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m49.619s 33
22. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m49.731s 30