Jenson Button (1:15.746) was fastest for the rain-slowed second practice session of the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix weekend. The early minutes of this second practice were furious as the teams hoped to get times in before a possibly impending shower, then everyone sat in the garage until it lightened. They all made their way back out, but times did not change after Button set his on the supersoft tyres as just enough rain fell to keep the track damp, but never enough to properly use even inters. Romain Grosjean, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, and Pastor Maldonado completed the fastest five. While teams did spend rather more time than usual in the garage, there were times when most of the field was out circulating and testing the veracity of the inters for the mixed forecast rest of the weekend. Multiple drivers used the escape road at Mirabeau, but there were no real incidents even in the slippery conditions.
The first practice session ended nearly ten minutes early after Kovalainen’s engine blew in the tunnel, spewing oil and smoke on the track, causing a red flag. Alonso (1:16.265) led the timesheets at that point, as he had off and on throughout the latter stages of the session. A bit earlier, second fastest Grosjean and fourth fastest Hamilton had been dueling it out with increasingly faster lap times, but Alonso had taken control by more than three tenths when the red flag came out. Sergio Perez split Grosjean and Hamilton, with Maldonado completing the fastest five. Massa was a surprisingly quick sixth fastest, Button and Vettel eighth and ninth, Schumacher eleventh, and Webber thirteenth fastest in an otherwise clean session. Raikkonen set no time, having completed only an installation lap before the Lotus crew got to work setting the steering to the Finn’s liking.
Session Start:
Lightening flashed over the harbor just fifteen minutes before the session began, but it was dry when Kobayashi led the way back onto the streets. Quickly, well over half the field followed the Japanese driver, then the other half joined in before the rain as well. Only Vettel, Alonso, and Kovalainen remained in the garage with four minutes gone in the ninety minute session. Times posted immediately, as Perez (1:18.000) took an early lead on the timesheets in early slow laps. Just five minutes in, seventeen drivers had set times. Kobayashi (1:17.504) led over Di Resta, Perez, Hulkenberg, Vergne, Glock, Ricciardo, Button, Hamilton, and Raikkonen as the top ten. Webber soon moved up into eighth, then dropped to ninth by Raikkonen’s faster lap. Hamilton, then Schumacher, then Button went fastest in a furious set of times as the teams attempted to get some fast laps in before forecast rain.
Alonso was the next to go fastest, though Perez looked to be ready to supplant him but for the ever-present Monaco traffic. Maldonado (1:16.820) set the fastest time just ten minutes into the session, ahead of Alonso, Button, Webber, Schumacher, Hamilton, Di Resta, Rosberg, Kobayashi, and Senna the top ten. Vettel was twelfth fastest. The order did not last long as Grosjean, then Alonso went fastest, only to be supplanted again by Button (1:15.746), shod in the supersoft tyres. Other drivers began using them, but times did not fall beyond Button’s as the rain began to fall earnestly upon Monaco. That brought most of the drivers directly back to their garages just over fifteen minutes into practice. At that point, Button led Grosjean, Massa, Alonso, Maldonado, Rosberg, Webber, Kobayashi, Schumacher, and Vettel as the top ten. Hamilton, Di Resta, Sennad, Hulkenberg, Perez, petrov, Vergne, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Glock, Pic, de la Rosa, Karthikeyan, and Kovalainen completed the order of the rest of the field.
1 Hour Remaining:
The entire field remained in the garage one third of the way through the session, with light rain forecast to continue for the next twenty minutes, then dry for about ten, then properly rain after according to Caterham. That forecast had been about ten minutes late when indicating the start of the rain, but rain would be likely to continue. Alonso, Glock, and Raikkonen began the running again with fifty-five minutes remaining. With the track damp and greasy, none of their early times were anything near earth-shattering as other drivers began to trickle back onto the circuit as well.
All but a few drivers had made their way back out just before halfway, but times were still pretty stagnant behind the fast laps set earlier and they all ducked back into the garage as the rain fell a bit more heavily. As Webber so succinctly radioed back to Red Bull, “it’s raining here, mate.” Teammate Vettel was the last man to make it back to the pits for the second running stoppage. About ten minutes later, Kobayashi tried his hand at the track on inters but stayed out for only a lap or two.
30 Minutes Remaining:
The Toro Rosso drivers were the next to try out the inters, just a couple minutes before the final third of the session began. Their Marussia rivals soon joined them. A few other drivers also went out and in at will, putting a few cars out but without changes in times. Senna wiggled his way through Mirabeau, taking to the escape road without trouble, then continuing on with help from the marshals. Teammate Maldonado did the same a few minutes later, then so did Perez as the final fifteen minutes began.
10 Minutes Remaining:
Nearly half the field was out with a little over ten minutes to go, all on inters as the rain lightened and the track dried infinitesimally. Over the next few minutes, more and more drivers headed out to test the waters, though none of the times were in any sort of danger. With rain possible during both qualifying and the race, it was time to bite the bullet and check the degradation of inters on the slippery track. Massa, then Kovalainen joined the masses at Mirabeau. Kovalainen simply parked his Caterham with four minutes left, as his reverse stopped working. All but the HRT drivers were out n the final minute as the track finally formed a dry line. In the end, times set in the first fifteen minutes stood and somehow everyone kept their cars in one piece through the first two sessions.
Final Times for FP2, 2012 Monaco Grand Prix:
Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Jenson Button McLaren 1:15.746 15 2. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:16.138 0.392 18 3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:16.602 0.856 20 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:16.661 0.915 22 5. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:16.820 1.074 19 6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:17.021 1.275 14 7. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:17.148 1.402 22 8. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:17.153 1.407 21 9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:17.293 1.547 10 10. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:17.303 1.557 20 11. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:17.375 1.629 18 12. Paul di Resta Force India 1:17.395 1.649 20 13. Bruno Senna Williams 1:17.655 1.909 18 14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:17.800 2.054 24 15. Serigo Perez Sauber 1:18.251 2.505 23 16. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:18.440 2.694 24 17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:18.522 2.776 21 18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:18.808 3.062 25 19. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:19.267 3.521 24 20. Timo Glock Marussia 1:19.309 3.563 28 21. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:20.029 4.283 13 22. Charles Pic Marussia 1:20.240 4.494 20 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:20.631 4.885 12 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:20.886 5.140 10
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