F1: Schumacher Soars In Second Shanghai Practice

Formula 1

F1: Schumacher Soars In Second Shanghai Practice

Michael Schumacher sets the quickest overall Friday time as Mercedes remains fast in China...

Jared Turner | Posted April 13, 2012 Shanghai (CHN)

It's turning into a nice weekend for Mercedes in China.

After the FIA announced on Thursday that it had rejected Lotus' protest of Mercedes' controversial DRS/F-Duct system, Mercedes scored another victory of sorts on Friday.

This time it was courtesy of team driver Michael Schumacher, who set the pace in Free Practice Two at Shanghai International Circuit.

After turning the third quickest lap in Friday's opening practice, trailing only teammate Nico Rosberg and session leader Lewis Hamilton, Schumacher topped the time sheet in FP2 with a lap of 1:35:973.

Schumacher's best lap, run under dry conditions, was more than a second clear of Hamilton's leading FP1 time of 1:37:106 set on a damp track.

Clocking in just behind Schumacher in FP2 was Hamilton's still-stout McLaren (1:36:145), which is seeking to make it three straight poles to open the 2012 season.

The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber — both denied victory in the season's first two events — finished the 90-minute session third and fourth, respectively, as the Mercedes of Rosberg slipped to fifth in the order.

Positions six through 10 on the time sheet belonged to Jenson Button, Kamui Kobayashi, Paul Di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.

Alonso is the World Championship leader, having scored a surprising victory for Ferrari three weeks ago in the rain at Sepang International Circuit.

Despite being run in mostly dry conditions, FP2 actually featured more incidents than the earlier Friday practice at the 5.451-kilometer China course.

Di Resta spun his Force India and continued on, but Timo Glock wasn't so fortunate.

The Marussia driver lost the nose of his car approaching the first corner, and spiraled into the gravel trap, crashing against the tire barrier and bringing out a yellow flag.

Glock was OK but his session was finished.

The action gets going again with Free Practice Three, which SPEED.com will stream live at 11 p.m. ET Friday.

Following at 2 a.m. ET Saturday will be three rounds of knockout qualifying broadcast live on SPEED.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.