Abu Dhabi GP: Vettel takes charge in second practice

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber returned Red Bull to the top in the second Friday practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

After being shaded by Lotus and Mercedes in the afternoon session, Red Bull regained its habitual top spot as darkness fell over Yas Marina.

Vettel had been fastest on the harder tyres in the opening quarter of an hour, and then left his switch to softs relatively late.

Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen was first to make that move and found a big time gain to go fastest.

He was eventually usurped by first Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, then Mark Webber's Red Bull.

Vettel then came through with a 1m41.335s to head Webber in a Red Bull one-two that held until the finish.

Hamilton and Raikkonen retained third and fourth places, followed by the former's team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Practice one pacesetter Romain Grosjean was only 12th fastest, having been sidelined by a front brake failure.

Several drivers had incidents and issues, with both Force India's Paul di Resta and McLaren's Jenson Button having to slow with punctures.

Button was still seventh, one place behind team-mate Sergio Perez, in a strong session for McLaren.

Ferrari improved on its quiet opening practice and at least got both cars into the top 10, albeit only eighth and 10th, either side of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber.

Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde both had spins, but rejoining without finding the barriers.

Pos Driver                Team                   Time      Gap     Laps
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m41.335s          33
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m41.490s  +0.155s 32
 3. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes               1m41.690s  +0.355s 37
 4. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m41.726s  +0.391s 40
 5. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m41.758s  +0.423s 39
 6. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes       1m42.006s  +0.671s 35
 7. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m42.010s  +0.675s 30
 8. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m42.171s  +0.836s 30
 9. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari         1m42.324s  +0.989s 40
10. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m42.440s  +1.105s 35
11. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari         1m42.509s  +1.174s 37
12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m42.607s  +1.272s 18
13. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m42.806s  +1.471s 26
14. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m42.952s  +1.617s 35
15. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m42.998s  +1.663s 25
16. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m43.152s  +1.817s 28
17. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m43.271s  +1.936s 35
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault       1m43.565s  +2.230s 34
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault       1m44.138s  +2.803s 34
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth      1m44.459s  +3.124s 34
21. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault       1m44.525s  +3.190s 37
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth      1m45.565s  +4.230s 26