Sebastian Vettel set the pace at Jerez on Thursday morning as the rain came down and the red flag count came up.
With light rain falling and more forecast throughout the day, the second day of testing got underway in Portugal with Felipe Massa taking control of the timesheets with a 1:28.879.
Moments later, though, the Brazilian was forced back into the pits as Jerez experienced its first stoppage of the day. Virgin's Timo Glock, who had completed 15 laps in the opening 40 minutes, put his VR01 in the gravel, bringing out the red flags as the marshals went about returning his car to the pits.
Once underway again, Sebastian Vettel made a bid for Massa's P1 slot but had to settle for second place while Ferrari revealed that their driver would have an enforced rest in the pits.
"We have a technical issue: the stop will not be short... Nothing serious but it will take time to sort it out," the team reported.
With the rain coming down harder the drivers put in the laps but without making any impact on the timesheets. In fact, it was the rain that made the bigger impact, bringing out the second red flag due to standing water on the track.
The weather was so bad halfway through the morning that Williams reported that they were even having problems completing pit stop practices with Rubens Barrichello.
"The team are trying to do pit stop practice with RB but it's too wet - only two done so far. Keep your fingers crossed for some dry weather!" they announced.
Barrichello also suffered a minor off, which resulted in the third stoppage of the morning. However, the Brazilian was able to get his car back on track and return to the pits.
With the rain finally letting up, the drivers headed back out with Heikki Kovalainen completing his first timed lap as a Lotus driver.
The Finn had been out earlier in the day, putting in three installation laps before his rather smokey T127 forced him to park in the team's garage.
But after almost two hours in the pits, Kovalainen came out again to clock a 1:36.7, improving to a 1:34.932 before heading back into the pits.
Another late starter was Renault's Vitaly Petrov. He set his first time an hour before the midday break and it was a rather slow 1:42.527 for the Russian.
Meanwhile, back at the front, Vettel and Rosberg both launched attacks on the P1 slot with Vettel, who put in the morning's longest run of 25 laps, taking second place before Rosberg took the position from him. The German was just 0.085s off Massa's P1 time.
A few laps Vettel finally did it, taking the P1 slot with a 1:28.746.
But it was soon back to the pits as Kovalainen brought out the fourth red flag of the morning. The Finn lost control of his T12 and went off at Turn 3, putting his Lotus, minus its front wing, in the gravel.
Unofficial Times
1. S. Vettel Red Bull Racing RB6 1:28.746 36 laps
2. F. Massa Ferrari F10 1:28.879 +0.133 15 laps
3. N. Rosberg Mercedes GP W01 1:28.964 +0.218 36 laps
4. P. de la Rosa Sauber C29 1:29.691 +0.945 8 laps
5. P. di Resta Force India VJM-03 1:30.344 +1.598 33 laps
6. R. Barrichello Williams FW32 1:31.489 +2.743 47 laps
7. T. Glock Virgin Racing VR-01 1:31.557 +2.811 31 laps
8. S. Buemi Toro Rosso STR5 1:32.678 +3.932 43 laps
9. L. Hamilton McLaren MP4-25 1:32.934 +4.188 27 laps
10. H. Kovalainen Lotus F1 T127 1:33.554 +4.808 26 laps
11. V. Petrov Renault R30 1:35.297 +6.551 12 laps
Source: Planet F1
