Mercedes stayed on top in the second practice session for the Russian Grand Prix – but this time it was Lewis Hamilton who led the way.
The world champion ended the session over six-tenths of a second clear of Sebastian Vettel and eight-tenths of a second up on his team mate.
Unlike Hamilton, Nico Rosberg did not appear to set a flying lap during his super-soft tyre run. Hamilton had more in hand, however, producing quicker individual sector times on his subsequent laps which indicated he had at least another tenth of a second in hand.
Hamilton also found time for a brief spin at turn four. As in the first session, several drivers spun on the taxing surface, including both Manors and Romain Grosjean.
Vettel’s pleasure at splitting the two Mercedes was tempered by the fact his car broke down moments after setting his best time. The Ferrari driver reported an electronic fault as he pulled to a halt at the exit of the final corner, prompting a brief Virtual Safety Car period.
Fifth-placed Daniel Ricciardo was one-and-a-half seconds off Mercedes’ pace. Team mate Daniil Kvyat was close behind, just a few thousandths of a second off the Williams of Valtteri Bottas. Both McLarens also featured in the top ten.
As the chequered flag came out Pascal Wehrlein brought his Manor to a stop at turn 14 with an apparent technical fault.
Second practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’37.583
+0.652 Sebastian Vettel – 1’38.235
+0.867 Nico Rosberg – 1’38.450
+1.210 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’38.793
+1.501 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’39.084
+1.602 Valtteri Bottas – 1’39.185
+1.610 Daniil Kvyat – 1’39.193
+1.706 Felipe Massa – 1’39.289
+1.817 Fernando Alonso – 1’39.400
+1.882 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’39.465
+1.918 Max Verstappen – 1’39.501
+2.212 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’39.795
+2.284 Sergio Perez – 1’39.867
+2.610 Kevin Magnussen – 1’40.193
+2.677 Romain Grosjean – 1’40.260
+2.925 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’40.508
+3.105 Jolyon Palmer – 1’40.688
+3.157 Felipe Nasr – 1’40.740
+3.497 Rio Haryanto – 1’41.080
+3.565 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’41.148
+4.069 Marcus Ericsson – 1’41.652
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
2016 Russian Grand Prix
- Another weak race shows Sochi is the new Valencia
- Magnussen beats grand slam Rosberg for Driver of the Weekend
- 2016 Russian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2016 Russian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Russian Grand Prix
BasCB (@bascb)
29th April 2016, 13:44
Will be interesting to see how the Ferraris go tomorrow. I would hope they can be close enough on race pace to force Mercedes into playing with strategy to keep both cars ahead. And will we see a McLaren make it through into Q3, or will their relative pace just go backwards when others turn up their speed again.
lockup (@)
29th April 2016, 13:44
Super easy to make a mistake with this combo of aero/engine/tyre. Excellent. Better make the most of it.
Enigma (@enigma)
29th April 2016, 13:54
Interesting order, team-by-team. Mercedes and Ferrari 1-4. Red Bull, Williams, McLaren 5-10. Toro Rosso 11-12. Force India 13-14. Renault, Haas 15-18. Sauber, Manor 19-22.
Ashwin (@redbullf1)
29th April 2016, 14:24
“Hamilton hits the top, Vettel comes to a stop” gotta love the rhyme :D
Tata
29th April 2016, 14:42
I guess @keithcollantine has extra skills he is not yet aware of. Would not do badly in song writing, rhyming/rapping :)
Pukka T Pie (@pukktpie)
29th April 2016, 14:55
Having been used to seeing the largest gap between cars towards the bottom of the grid for the last 6 years or so, its refreshing (and quite interesting) to see the largest gap is between first and second. Ominous..?
kpcart
29th April 2016, 15:04
nah, just that vettel had a problem after 30 minutes. also raikonnen is never representative of true Ferrari pace the results of the past 2 years show. also look at the first practice, rosberg ahead of Hamilton by .7 it is practice.
Ashwin (@redbullf1)
29th April 2016, 18:13
Just when we start enjoying the races, the teams catching up to mercedes and closing the gap, BOOM major rules and regulations changes for next year.
I understand we need changes, new formulas to challenge the teams, I hope we don´t see the 2014-2016 drama all over again.
Saurabh (@sksahukanker62)
29th April 2016, 18:30
visual gaps will look a lot better if you add some pictures in the background like a race finish line, scales and represent driver names with team colours or cars themselves…
Jake Wahome
29th April 2016, 19:37
Where went the graph you used to provide showing the relative performance of the top drivers in the long runs? These were much better than this visual gap on qualy sims