Kvyat leads second rain-hit practice session

Daniil Kvyat led the second practice session at Suzuka as wet conditions led teams to limit their running again.

The session began on a damp but drying track which allowed drivers to do some early running on intermediate tyres. The Mercedes pair led the way initially, but a quick lap by Kvyat on the intermediate rubber allowed him to snatch the top spot by 23 thousandths of a second.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Suzuka, 2015 — Vettel had a high-speed off-track moment at turn one

The rain soon returned, and with the conditions rapidly deteriorating no further improvements in lap time were possible.

The Ferraris were fifth and sixth behind the Red Bulls and Mercedes, both drivers skidding off the track at times: Sebastian Vettel took to the turn one run-off at speed and Kimi Raikkonen explored the run-off at the chicane.

The Toro Rosso drivers were next, Max Verstappen also having gone off at the chicane as well as at the hairpin on another lap.

Felipe Nasr and Pastor Maldonado completed the top ten, the latter running wide at turn two and running onto the thoroughly sodden grass.

A technical problem kept Fernando Alonso in the pits early in the session. He was eventually able to do a series of laps, but not before the mid-session shower. Jenson Button reported problems with understeer and graining on his way to 12th.

Valtteri Bottas never left the Williams garage due to a problem with his car.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-Renault	1’48.277		6
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’48.300	0.023	8
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’48.853	0.576	8
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1’49.097	0.820	10
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’50.268	1.991	18
6	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1’50.319	2.042	16
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’50.418	2.141	6
8	33	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’50.542	2.265	5
9	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	1’50.968	2.691	10
10	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Mercedes	1’51.557	3.280	7
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1’51.674	3.397	11
12	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1’51.861	3.584	9
13	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1’51.934	3.657	12
14	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1’52.070	3.793	8
15	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Mercedes	1’52.534	4.257	6
16	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1’52.765	4.488	6
17	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1’55.239	6.962	10
18	28	Will Stevens	Manor-Ferrari	1’58.059	9.782	6
19	53	Alexander Rossi	Manor-Ferrari	1’59.419	11.142	7
20	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes			0

Second practice visual gaps

Daniil Kvyat – 1’48.277

+0.023 Nico Rosberg – 1’48.300

+0.576 Lewis Hamilton – 1’48.853

+0.820 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’49.097

+1.991 Sebastian Vettel – 1’50.268

+2.042 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’50.319

+2.141 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’50.418

+2.265 Max Verstappen – 1’50.542

+2.691 Felipe Nasr – 1’50.968

+3.280 Pastor Maldonado – 1’51.557

+3.397 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’51.674

+3.584 Jenson Button – 1’51.861

+3.657 Marcus Ericsson – 1’51.934

+3.793 Sergio Perez – 1’52.070

+4.257 Romain Grosjean – 1’52.534

+4.488 Felipe Massa – 1’52.765

+6.962 Fernando Alonso – 1’55.239

+9.782 Will Stevens – 1’58.059

+11.142 Alexander Rossi – 1’59.419

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12 comments on “Kvyat leads second rain-hit practice session”

@HoHum (@hohum)
25th September 2015, 7:53

So Mercedes still don’t know if they are going to have good grip levels on slicks with their standard setup or if they are going to have find a better setup tomorrow.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
25th September 2015, 7:54

Both Ferrari drivers skidding off the track. How much time lost there? 2 tenth? Half a second? They don’t look faster than Mercedes.
Hoping for all Red Bull podium like Hungary as a reminder of what Red Bull young driver program gave us.
1. elio (@elio)
  25th September 2015, 8:12
  
  You can’t really compare, as the rain got heavier when the Ferraris hit the track.
  1. ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
    25th September 2015, 10:11
    
    I don’t have the chance to watch FP1 & FP2.
    That’s a good news then…
Kingshark (@kingshark)
25th September 2015, 8:10

Apart from the F2012, every single Ferrari in the last 10 years has been weaker in the wet than in the dry, so this doesn’t surprise me at all. Ferrari cars in general are not very good in the rain.
1. oya
  25th September 2015, 8:26
  
  You know they have also never been good at qualifying. And now they have a driver who’s been known to be good at both quali and wet conditions. They need to get better.
2. Mashiat
  25th September 2015, 9:21
  
  @kingshark I disagree. The F10 and the F14-T weren’t comparatively bad in the wet. Australia and Korea 2010 as well as Melbourne, Malaysia and China 2014 prove that.
Baron (@baron)
25th September 2015, 8:57

Like a win last time is simply not good enough…
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
25th September 2015, 12:16

I watched both sessions and learned absolutly zilch. FP3 is going to be verry intersting. Expect teams to have their cars out there as much as possible to gather data.
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
25th September 2015, 15:04

Well, I won’t think Mercedes would bounce back from their Singapore disappointment. Or would they?…
1. kanan
  25th September 2015, 15:31
  
  Of course they would. I don’t get why everyone expects or talks about them struggling to be honest. It was a one off.
SauberS1 (@saubers1)
25th September 2015, 21:38

There will no good settings…